
iiiiiMi^^iiiiiiHi 



THE CAPTUliE OF TICONDEROOA. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



VERMONT 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



DELIVERED AT 



MONTPELIER, VT., 



03sr TxrESDA--^- e VEiriisro, ocxobee, s, isvs. 



By Hon. LUCIUS E. CHITTENDEN. 




W __ ^1' 





RUTLAND: 

TUTTLE & COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
18 7 2. 



By transfer 
5 J81907 



The following Joint Resolution was adopted by the Senate 

and House of Representatives, at their biennial session, 1872 : 

Resolved by Vie Senate and House of Representatives, That the Secretary of 
the Senate be, and hereby is, rlirected to procure the printing of twenty- 
five hundred copies of tlie valuable and instructive address of the Hon. 
L. E. Chlttenden before the Vermont Historical Society, for the use of 
the General Assembly ; that there be furnished to each member of the 
Senate and House of Representatives, three copies ; to each Town Clerk, 
one copy ; to each college and academy in this State, one copy ; .to each 
Judge of the Supreme Court, one copy ; to the Governor, and each of the 
heads of departments, one copy ; to the State Library, two hundred 
copies ; and to the Vermont Historical Society, five hundred copies ; such 
number of copies as shall remain after disti'ibution as above, to be eqiially 
divided between the public libraries of the State, not otherwise supplied 
by this resolution, under the direction of the State Librarian. 

The following letter was addressed to the Hon. L. E. Chit- 
tenden : 

Office of the Secretary of the Senate, ) 
MONTPELIER, Vt., Oct. 16, 1872. 5 

Deaj' Sir : By a Joint Resolution adopted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives, I am directed to procure the printing of the valuable 
and instructive address delivered by you before the Vermont Historical 
Society, at its annual meeting, at Moutpelier, on the 8th instant. 

I would respectfully ask that you furnish me with a copy of said 
address for publication. 

I am, Sir, your very obedient servant, 

M. B. Carpenter, Secretary of the Senate. 

To which the following repl}^ was received: 

25 West 38th Street, New York, Nov. 13, 1872. 
My Dear Sir : I have received your note of the 16th ult., inclosing a 
copy of a Joint Resolution of the Legislature of Vermont, and request- 
ing for publication a copy of my recent address before the Vermont His- 
torical Society. 

Although this address was prepared with no purpose of immediate puL 
lication, I do not feel at liberty to decline a request preferred in such cour- 
teous terms, which, perhaps, indicates an opinion of the Legislature that 
the paper may have some permanent value. I have the pleasure of com- 
plying with it, and transmit the copy, which you will receive with this 

letter. 

Very truly, yours, 

L. E. CHITTENDEN. 
M. B. Carpenter, Esq., 

Secretary of the Senate, Montpelier, Vt. 



Introductory Note. 



The following paper was read before the Vermont Historical 
Society, at a special meeting of its members, held at Ticonderoga, 
on the 18th of June, 1872, and was repeated, at the request of the 
Society, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in Montpel- 
ier, on the 8th of the following October. In order to preserve the 
address in its original form, those portions which indicate its deliv- 
ery on the ground where the events transpired, to Avhich it refers, 
have not been changed, and it is now printed as first prepared. 
It was intended to print the letters and documents which are re- 
ferred to, in full ; but these are so numerous that only a few of the 
more im})ortant have been retained. But reference is made to all, 
and the effort has been made to refer the reader to the depositaries 
of all the known material evidence which bears upon the capture 
of Ticonderoga, in May, 1775. 

The unwearied industry and perseverance of Mr. Force has 
brought many of these documents together in that monument of 
his research known as " The American Archives." To avoid fre- 
quent repetition of the title, unless special indication to the contrary 
is given, reference is made to the Second Yolume of the Fourth 
Series of the American Archives, by the use, in the notes, of Mr. 
Force's name, without other addition. 



Address. 



TicoNDEROGA — ^TliG lock to the Gate of the Country. It 
bars the entrance to the natural highway of Champlain, over 
which for generations swept the bloody tide of unrelenting 
war — a war so ancient that, when the white man tirst came 
thither, he found no living man who could tell of its beginning, 
— so contilu^ous that its refluent wave rarely ceased its flow, 
until, one lumdred and fifty years later, the great families wlio 
waged it had vanished from the eartli, and peace spread her 
silvery wings over a new nation, celebrating its victory around 
the first altar of freedom erected on American shores. 

Nature chooses all the theatres upon wliich the nations settle 
their controversies by the arbitrament of battle. They are few 
in number and limited in area. The plains of Greece, Northern 
Italy, the shores of the Rhine, the valleys of lower Virginia ! — 
how many battles they have witnessed, what countless multi- 
tudes of warriors they have entombed ! But not one of tJiem 
has been the scene of war so prolonged, continuous, savage and 
cruel as that which ended with the Peace of Paris, which for 
centuries before had raged in the valley of Lake Champlain. 

Its commencement was prehistoric. When, in 1609, the 
French explorer first undei'took to penetrate this wilderness, 
the Indians of Canada told him it was the home of their he- 
reditary enemies. Champlain gives us one glance at their fierce 



6 

encounters, and the curtain falls for almost fifty years ; though 
behind its folds we may still hoar tlie war cry of the Savage 
and the shriek of his tortured prisoner. Then follows another 
century, the few but vivid records of which are gleaned from the 
relations of the Jesuit Fathers, whose history in New France is 
a marvel of missionary self-sacrifice and devotion. Finally, the 
contest becomes known as the French and Indian war, and 
thenceforward we have its written history. 

The frontier which separated these two great aboriginal fami- 
lies was nearly coincident with that between the United States 
and Canada. The valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa 
comprised numerous tribes of l)rave, muscular, athletic war- 
riors, who, for want of a better term, may be called Algonkins. 
Farther west, extending to the great lakes, lived the powerful 
Hurons, their friends and allies. Their enemies were the Iro- 
quois, whose Imnting grounds extended from the western 
slope of the Green Mountains to the southern shore of Lake On- 
tario. Their principal villages were in Central New York, in a 
line extended west from the south end of Lake George. History 
gives no account of a native race, surpassing the Iroquois in all 
the qualities which constitute the savage ideal of physical per- 
fection. They were tall and erect in stature, their limbs were 
as active and strong as those of the trained athlete. It was 
their chief pride, next to skill and courage in battle, that they 
were insensible to pain, fatigue and hunger. Tlie business of 
their lives was war against their nortliern enemies. To tliis 
they were educated from infancy. Their sports as well as their 
labors tended to their physical development. In their educa- 
tirm nothing was omitted which could nuike them cruel, ])roud 
and brave, superior to physical hardship, inscnsilde to tortures 
sucb as could only be devised by savage ingemiity. They con- 
stituted a great power among the native families. On the west, 
they conquered and annihilated the Erie nation, and swept 



over western Pennsylvania to the mountains of Virginia. On 
the north, they maintained unconqnered a war of two hundred 
years. On the east, their neighbors sought safety in peace. 
No confederacy of native tribes, equally powerful, ever existed 
between the Atlantic and the Mississippi. 

As in all wars, the fortunes of this sanguinary contest were 
variable. In the early part of the seventeenth century, victory 
appears to have been with the northern tribes, for they forced 
the Iroquois back from the outlet of Lake Champlain to the 
head waters of the Hudson. From this position the Iroquois 
villages were never again advanced. The Champlain valley 
was left a Ijroad frontier, over which invading parties passed, 
and upon which they met in fierce encounter. In the absence 
of Indian towns, it became a nursery for game, through which 
the larger animals roamed in countless numbers. The reason 
is thus apparent why so few remains of Indian towns are found 
in western Vermont, and why the evidences of aboriginal occu- 
pation indicate routes or war paths instead of local stations. 

Champlain made two visits to this valley, upon each occasion 
in company with a war party. Arrived at Quebec in 1609, he 
made an engagement with the Algonkins, that they should assist 
his discoveries in the country of the Iroquois, if he would assist 
them in their war " against that fierce people, who spared nothing 
that belonged to them."'" In tlie singularly mimite and truth- 
ful relation of his first expedition, he records the first meeting 
in this region between the opposing forces of barbarism and 
civilization. It occurred on the northern extremity of Crown 
Point, on the 29th of July, two hundred and sixty-three years 
ago. 

The parties were large — the battle fierce — its fortunes waver- 
ing, when it was decided by the arquebuss of Champlain — the 
first report of a fire-arm which awoke the echoes of that valley. 

(') Champlaiu's Voyages, Ed. 1632, p. 134. 



Before it, two Iroquois chiefs fell dead, a third mortall}^ wound- 
ed. From the presence of a power to them supernatural, their 
warriors lied in terror, leaving a number of prisoners in the 
hands of Champlain's party. A new force had been intro- 
duced into their warfare, which in the end was to destroy both 
opposing parties. That night, on the Vermont shore, a few 
miles north of the battle-ground, they sacrificed a prisoner with 
tortures such as none but American Indians ever conceived. 

Tliere was a singular synchronism in the march of civiliza- 
tion upon both extremes of this great route of communication. 
In the same summer of Champlain's discovery, Hudson sailed 
up the river which bears his name. The French settlements at 
Montreal, and the Dutch at Albany, began at tlie same time 
and advanced with equal steps. These controlled the fortunes 
of the war. But the motives which brought the two nations 
hither were widely different. The conversion of the Indians 
to Catholicism invited the French ; trade impelled the Dutch. 
It was the policy of the former to prevent tlie introduction of 
fire-arms, of the latter to encourage them. Tlie eSect was 
quickly apparent. The Iroquois, no longer content with resist- 
ing^ invasion, became invaders. I have not the time even to 
sketch the course of this war movement from 1 635 to the end 
of that century. During that period, there was probably not a 
year in which a war party did not pass down the lake to Can- 
ada, and often a dozen were absent from their villages at tlie 
same time. They lay in amliush along the St. Lawrence, and 
returned triumphant with their spoils and prisoners. It was 
during this period that Father Jogues and other French mis- 
sionaries, with numerous Algonkin converts, were carried up 
the lakes to the Iroquois towns, where they found their crowns 
of martyrdom with all its surroundings of savage cruelty. 

At length the Canadian Indians and French were threatened 
with annihilation. To save their own lives, the French were 



driven to take part in the war. They armed the Indians, led 
their expeditions, and checl^ed the Iroquois in their tide of vic- 
tory. The southern tribes sought the same assistance from 
their English neighbors. The war was prosecuted by alternate 
invasions, until finally the quarrel merged in the great contest 
between the trans-Atlantic powers of England and France. 
Thenceforward, with seasons of peace on the Eastern Conti- 
nent, the war here was almost continuous. 

In all this warfare. Crown Point and Ticonderoga were the 
chief objective points. Tlie temptation is strong to linger over 
its details, for its complete history has never been written, and 
we have not even a list of its battles. But I cannot even refer 
to all the events of the twenty years preceding the peace of 
Paris, which are necessary to illustrate the military importance 
of these positions, and to understand their connection with our 
own Revolution. 

The final contest between the two great powers of Europe, 
for the control of the Champlain valley, became energetic in 
the year 1755. The English and the colonists had learned by 
a bloody experience that there could be no peace here until the 
French were driven from Crown Point and Ticonderoga, which 
they held with great tenacity as the initial stations of their bar- 
barous incursions. Gen. William Johnson, in this year, under- 
took their capture, with an army of thirty-five hundred New 
England militia. The attempt was fruitless, though the fight- 
ing qualities of the colonists secured enough successes of the 
British arms, near Lake George, to make their commander a 
baronet. 'Had he exhibited capacity to command, the French 
might have been swept from this quarter in a single campaign. 
It was his fault that for many years " these forests were never 
free from secret dangers, and American scalps were strung 
together by the wakeful savage, for the adornment of his wig- 
wam. 



5 5(2) 



W Bancroft, iv. p. 208. 



10 

The Fr3n(;h made active preparation for defense. They 
called to this frontier the entire available force of the District 
of Mont^-eal. By the end of August, when Johnson's army 
had reached Lake George, Dieskau, the French commander, 
had gathered here seven hundred regulars, sixteen hundred 
Canadians and six hundred savages. The impetuous French- 
man did not wait for an attack. Dashing forward to strike his 
inactive adversary, he mistook his route, and on the 7th of Sep- 
tember found himself between Fort Edward and Lake George. 
He was just in time to form an ambush for a thousand colo- 
nists, who had been sent under Col. Ephraiin Williams to re- 
lieve Fort Edward. Among the latter was the brave and ven- 
erable Hendrick, chief of the Six Nations, with two hundred 
of his braves. Led into the ambush, surrounded by invisible 
foes, defense was impossible, and Hendrick and Williams fell, 
with many of their men. Whiting, of Connecticut, extricated 
the remainder of the force, and with it retreated to Johnson's 
camp, fighting every step of the way. 

The camp was not intrenched. Dieskau, whose motto was, 
" Boldness wins," daslied on, hoping to enter the camp with 
the fugitives. But he mistook the temper of the New Eng- 
land militia. Though abandoned by their commander, who 
left the field with the excuse of a slight wound at the com- 
mencement of the action, these marksmen of the woods not 
only checked the French assault, but for five hours poured 
into their ranks such a withering fire as they had never 
before encountered. The French regulars Avere annihilated. 
The Indians and Canadians, crouching in the bushes, kept out 
of the range of the fire. At length the Americans rushed 
over their slight works, and put the wliole French army to 
flight. A Frencli renegade wantonly shot down their intrepid 
find thrice-wounded commander. Among the privates of the 
American army in this action were Israel Putnam, of Connec- 
ticut, and John Stark, of New Hampshire. 



11 

The battle did not end with the fall of Dieskau. A body 
of three hundred New Hampshire men, commanded by Mc- 
Ginnis, crossing from the fort to the lake, just at nightfall, fell 
in with three hundred Canadians who were retreating in a 
body, attacked and dispersed them, capturing all their baggage. 
The victory was an expensive one, for it cost the life of their 
brave commander. 

Instead of following up an enemy no longer capable of re- 
sistance, and capturing the forts here and at Crown Point, 
Johnson took his army to the foot of Lake George, and wasted 
the autumn in Ijuilding a wooden fort, subsequently known as 
Fort William Henry. The French, whose power of recupera- 
tion, then as now, exceeded that of any other nation, profited by 
his inaction to fortify themselves at Ticonderoga. We shall 
see, hereafter, how costly to the American Colonies was this 
introduction of the waiting policy in war. 

Although the year 1756 passed without any general engage- 
ment, almost every week witnessed a scout, an ambush, or a 
skirmish. The main body of the Americans remained near 
Fort William Henry, where, about the first of July, Shirley, 
who had succeeded Johnson, gave up the command to Aber- 
crombie. During this summer, Montcalm arrived from France, 
hastened to this place, and assumed command of an army of 
about five thousand men. He did not here enter upon any 
active operations against the English ; but, having made him- 
self familiar with tlie locality, and greatly improved its de- 
fenses, hurried to Oswego, which, by an energetic attack, he 
captured. This year was signalized by the commencement of 
operations by the Rangers, under Rogers and Stark, who were 
constantly engaged in annoying the enemy and cutting ofi" his 
detached parties. In the French market, English scalps pro- 
duced sixty livres, or about twelve dollars, each ; and English 
prisoners found a ready sale, in Canada, at sixty crowns.*^' 

(') I. Rogers' Journal, pp. 13-37. 



12 

The year 1757 is a noted one in the history of the valleys 
of Lakes George and Champlain. The Rangers held Fort 
William Henry through the winter, whence they kept up a suc- 
cession of attacks upon the French. On the 15th of January, 
Stark and Rogers, with fifty privates, went from Fort Edward 
to William Henry, where they were joined by thirty-two 
officers and men. They proceeded down the lake, and 
flanking this place, struck Lake Champlain about midway be- 
tween Ticonderoga and Crown Point. There they attacked a 
convoy of provisions, coming to this place on sledges. It was 
a successful, though rasli act, for there were four times their 
number of Frenchmen in their rear. Learning from their 
prisoners the number of men at the two forts, Stark and Rog- 
ers at once set out on their return. Within a half mile of the 
shore, two hundred and fifty French and Indians fell upon 
them. Undismayed by superior numbers, they fouglit their 
way back to Lake George, and finally reached Fort William 
Henry, after a week's absence, and the loss of one-third of 
their party. *^' 

Tlie French retaliated. In March, a party of fifteen hund- 
red, under the command of Yaudreuil, made the march from 
this place on snow-shoes, drawing their provisions on sleds, and 
attacked Fort William Henry, hoping to carry it by surprise. 
They were not successful, and were compelled to retire, after 
burning a few boats, some outbuildings, and inflicting other 
slight injuries upon the Americans. 

A change in the character of this warfare, was now impend- 
ing. The skillful, brave and energetic Montcalm assumed 
command of the French, and at once prepared for oftcnsive 
operations. He began by tlioroughly arousing the passions of 
thirty-three Indian tribes, which had been collected by the 
French Governor at Montreal. He secured their confidence, 

<*> Rogers' Journal, p. 44. 



13 

by joining in their dances, singing their war songs, and 
they phiccd themselves unreservedly under his direction. 
With their excitement at the highest point, he set out with 
them for Ticonderoga. He reached this fort with the largest 
Indian war party ever collected upon the lake, numbering more 
tlian two hundred canoes. The precise number of men he 
collected here and at Crown Point, we do not know ; but it 
more than four times outnumbered the American army to 
which it was opposed. Montcalm spent but little time in 
preparation, — long enough, however, to send out a scouting 
party toward Fort Edward, which returned with fortj^-two 
fresh-torn American scalps, and only one prisoner. These 
trophies excited the Indians to frenzy. Montcalm restrained 
them with difficulty. On the 2-J:tli July, twenty barges of 
Americans, under Colonel Parker, appeared on the lake. The 
Indians rushed upon them, took one hundred and sixty prison- 
ers, killed and dispersed the rest of the force. The succeeding 
ten days were tilled with events which I must pass over. 

It must suffice to say, that on the second of August, 
Montcalm, with an army of eight thousand French and 
Indians, had surrounded Fort William Henry, defended by less 
than five hundred men within the fort, and seventeen hundred 
intrenched around it. 

You know what a bloody tragedy ensued ; how the gallant 
Monroe, who had only reached the fort the day previous, an- 
swered the summons to surrender with defiance ; how for five 
days he held the place against the assailing host of mad devils, 
directed by French genius, while the pusillanimous Webb, with 
an army of five thousand men, lay trembling at Fort Edward, 
and answered his demands for assistance by advice to capitu- 
late ; how, when aware that Webb's letter had been inter- 
cepted by Montcalm, who thus knew that all his hope of help 
was cut ofi", he would not treat until half his guns were burst, 



14 

and his ammunition was exhausted ; how Moiitcahii, generous 
to so brave an eneni}'', granted him the hberal terms of march- 
ing his men, with their arms and baggage, under an escort to 
the nearest fort ; how, after the surrender, the galhxnt French- 
man more than once periled his life to keep his agreement ; 
and, finally, how his savage allies swung the relentless toma- 
hawk against their defenseless prisoners, until the}' had reduced 
the army to a herd of six hundred fugitives under the shelter- 
ing gims of Fort Edward ! It was, indeed, a bloody scene — 
too awful for description — the most cruel and devilish which 
these valleys, the battle-ground of centuries, have ever %vit- 
nessed !*^' 

This campaign well nigh extinguished the English power on 
this frontier, — for, if Webb did not give up Fort Edward, it 
was because he was not attacked in his paralysis of fear. This 
shameful result was due not less to the cowardice of the Eng- 
lish commanders, than to the dashing bravery of Montcalm. 
The Rangers alone declined to participate in the general trepi- 
dation. They hurried forward to the bloody ground, some of 
them within twenty -four hours of the massacre, and until the 
next spring, by a series of well-directed attacks, were a con- 
stant annoyance to the enemy. 

A change in the British Ministry, which brought Mr. Pitt 
into the Cabinet, put new energy into the prosecution of the 
war in America, and, from the year 1758, afiairs in the colo- 
nies began to assume a more favorable aspect. But, while 
British arms were everywhere else triumphant, the day of dis- 
aster in this quarter had not yet closed. In the season of 1758, 
three expeditions were undertaken against the French. One 
resulted in the capture of Louisburg; another in that of Fort 
du Quesne. We are concerned only with the third — the 
largest, the most promising — the only gne unsuccessful. 



<^' See Appendix 1. 



15 

The enthusiasm of the colonies, animated by the spirit of 
the home government, by the first of July, had collected upon 
the banks of Lake George the most numerous, best equipped, 
and most effective army theretofore mustered on American 
soil. It was composed of nine thousand Provincials, sixty -five 
hundred British regulars and six hundred rangers. Abercrom- 
bie was nominally at the head of the force, but its real com- 
mander was the young, brave and popular Lord Howe. 

At early dawn, on the fifth of July, these soldiers, sixteen 
thousand in number, folded their tents and launched themselves 
on the placid bosom of Lake St. Sacrament. Their movement 
required a thousand boats, exclusive of the rafts which floated 
their artillery. The glorious pageant, decked with waving 
banners, cheered by the strains of martial music, moved slowly 
down the lake. As the rays of the morning sun flashed Irom 
their glistening bayonets and lit up the contrast between the 
scarlet uniforms of the regulars and the wealth of green in 
which the wilderness was clotlied, — as their oars, with meas- 
ured stroke, broke the surface of that lovely sheet of water, 
its lofty shores towered above such a military display as they 
never saw before — may never witness again. The living poem 
was complete, when, as the shades of evening fell, just beyond 
the place where the mountain slope descends below the surface 
of the waters, on a point named after the quiet of the Sabbath 
day, they landed and spread their couches for a few hours' 
repose. 

The enemy they were moving to attack would have made a 
sorry show in the pageantry of war. In numbers it did not 
exceed thirty-seven hundred men. But they had been trained 
to war, and they were commanded by a master who knew how 
to avail himself of all his resources. He was even able to 
transfuse into each soldier enough of his own untiring activity 
to more than double his ordinary military value. On yonder 



16 

height, he had built Fort Carillon. On the east, soiitli and 
south-west, it was defended by the lake and river. On the 
north was a swamp, w^et and impassable. There was only a 
space, a little more than a half mile broad, wliich Nature had 
left undefended ; and across this he stretched, behind earth- 
works, his main line of defense. 

Nor was this all. You need not read history to learn how 
the active Frenchman protected the approaches to his main 
hne, for his works, now, after the lapse of more than a centmy, 
are nearly as perfect as they were the night before the battle. 
About a half mile in front of tlie narrowest neck of the penin 
sula, is a low ridge, sloping from the river towards the lake. 
Along this ridge he threw up a heavy earthwork, defended in 
front by a deep-dug ditch. Along the banks of the river and 
swamp, connecting this work with his main hne, were small earth 
forts, which effectually defended him against an attack in flank. 
In front of the ridge, for the distance of a musket range, the 
trees had been felled with their tops outward, forming an 
abbatis, which was well nigh impassable. Still further up, at 
the river crossing, was a strong natural position, from wliich 
the river rounded northward to the landing like a bow, of 
which the road represents the string, intersecting the river a 
little below^ the head of the portage. The river crossing was 
held by three French regiments, with tlieir pickets thrown for- 
ward to the landing ; and a body of three hundred men, under 
Trapezec, was advanced into the woods on the western sliore 
of Lake George. 

Montcalm determined, early in the campaign, to fight the 
English at Ticonderoga. On the day an enemy of four times 
his strength was moving to attack him, he wrote to the Gov- 
ernor of Canada : " I have chosen to fight them on the heights 
of Carillon ; and I shall beat them there, if they give me time 
to gain the position.'"'®' Montcalm commanded savages, and 

(8) IV. Bancroft, p. 208. 



17 

caused massacres ; but he was a brave soldier, and a true man 
cannot now write his name without a thrill of admiration. 

Before midnight of the fifth, the English moved from Sab- 
bath Day Point to a cove, about a mile above the outlet, pro- 
tected by a point, which that morning took the name of Lord 
Howe. There they landed, and forming in four columns, be- 
gan their march. As soon as they had left Sabbath Day Point, 
Montcalm ordered all his forces, which had been thrown out 
in advance, back into their intrenchments in front of Carillon. 
All obeyed except the detachment of Trapezec, which, falling 
back from its position on the western shore of the lake, lost its 
way, and for some hours wandered in the woods in search of 
the road across the portage. Meantime, the English were 
moving slowly forward, their columns jostling against each 
other, upon the rough ground, in the morning twilight. Near 
the outlet of Trout Brook, the right centre, commanded by 
Lord Howe, came in contact with Trapezec's party. Although 
they fought bravely, they were struck and crushed in a mo- 
ment. It was an accidental skirmish, but one of those acci- 
dents which decide the fortunes of a campaign, for it cost the 
life of the gallant nobleman in command, who fell at the head 
of his column. 

The fall of Lord Howe was the ruin of the expedition. 
With his death, order vanished — the morale of the army was 
destroyed. There was no force threatening his immediate 
front, and yet Abercrombie fell back to the landing, and thus 
gave Montcalm the precious hours he needed to complete his 
preparations. 

I pass over details. On the morning of the eighth, the 
French commander was ready. Every man was in his sta- 
tion behind intrenchments, which the practiced eyes of Stark, 
and even some of the English ofiicers, saw were too formidable 
to be carried by assault. Like Braddock, Abercrombie would 
2 



18 

not be advised hj Lnckwoodsmen. He moved in three col- 
umns straight on the centre of the French works. Braver men 
never ruslied upon their fate ; never was defence more success- 
fuL For three full hours, the grenadiers and the Highlanders 
hurled themselves against the wall of fire, only to be beaten 
back, and again to dash forward. Every point in the intrench- 
ments was assaulted. Now they sought to turn the French 
left. The omnipresent Montcalm met them with his best men. 
They crowded around his right, — Montcalm was there to face 
them ! Did an officer fall in the centre, — Montcalm w^as in 
presence until his place was supplied ! The English did not 
make an impression even on the exterior line. The work was 
too close for artillery, but swivels and small arms condensed 
their discharges into a continuous roar, pouring a shower of 
leaden hail into an enemy at times not fifteen paces from their 
muzzles. But human energy could not achieve impossibilities. 
At length, beaten back at every point ; entangled in the brush- 
wood and lallen timber ; melting, like a snow in June, before 
the withering fire ; the English became so bewildered as to fire 
into each other. Abercrombie had hidden away where he 
could not be found. It was six o'clock in the evening, when 
two thousand men, the fiower of the army, lay dead or wounded 
in front of the intrenchments, tliat the order was given for re- 
treat, which, in a few moments, became flight in promiscuous 
disorder. 

Had Howe lived, or Stark commanded, the English might 
have been rallied at the landing ; their artillery have been 
placed on Mount Defiance, which they still held, and the 
French have been shelled out of their works. But Abercrom- 
bie was thoroughly beaten ; and he gave no rest to his feet 
until he had placed the length of Lake George between him- 
self and an enemy not strong enough to pursue him. He did 
not feel entirely safe until he had sent his artillery and ammu- 
nition to Albany. 



19 

During the remainder of the season, the French were alert, 
the Enghsh inactive. There were numerous skirmishes in 
which tlie French were usually victors. Putnam was captured, 
and only saved from the stake by the interference of a French 
officer. November brought Amherst, the conqueror of Louis- 
burg ; and when he assumed the command the long season of 
Eno-lish disaster came to an end. " Abercrombie went home 
to England ; was secured from censure, maligned the Ameri- 
cans, and afterwards assisted in Parliament to tax the witnesses 
of his pusillanimity."^^^ 

Successful as this campaign had been, it was the last sub- 
stantial effort of the French to maintain their supremac}^ here. 
The vigilance of the English cruisers made reinforcements from 
France impossible, and the ceaseless activity of Montcalm had 
exhausted Canada of supplies and men. He wrote to his home 
government, that, without external assistance, Canada must 
fall ; and his words were prophetic. The winter of 1758-9 
brought its annual crop of scouts and skirmishes, which settled 
nothing. On the fifth of March, Rogers with three hundred 
and fifty men, came down to Sabbath Day Point, where, leav- 
ing a part of his force, he crossed South Bay to the eastern 
shore of Lake Champlain, and opposite Ticonderoga attacked 
and dispersed a working party of the enemy. He was pur- 
sued by two hundred and thirty French and Indians, a mile 
and a half, to a favorable position, where he gave battle, and 
defeated them. He then, with trifling loss, made his way back 
to Fort Edward.'** The place of this fight cannot be definitely 
fixed from the account given by Rogers. 

On the 21st of July, Amherst, having collected an army of 
eleven thousand men, passed down Lake George and landed 
on the eastern shore, near the outlet. Halting his main body, 
he sent forward a party of Rangers under Rogers, who attacked 

(') IV. Bancroft, 309. <») Rogers' Journal 129 to 134. 



20 

the French at the mills, drove tliein out, and held the position. 
The army then proceeded to invest Ticonderoga. The heroic 
Montcalm, who never recoiled in the presence of an enemy, 
was no longer here. He was on the Heights of Abraham, 
gathering up the last remnants of Canadian strength, to meet, 
not his master, but his peer, in a struggle in which both were 
doomed to fall. The siege here, began. For two days the 
French kept up a constant fire of cannon upon the English. 
But during the day of the 24th, the Rangers dragged three 
boats across the portage into Lake Champlain, intending to cut 
away the boom to the eastern shore, in order that the English 
boats might pass the fort, and cut off the French retreat. 
Before this could be accomplished, about nine o'clock in the 
evening of the 26th, the French sprung their mines, blew up 
the fort, rushed to their boats, and hastily retreated toward 
Crown Point. Rogers, with his Rangers, dashed upon them 
from the Vermont shore, and captm'ed ten boats with fifty bar- 
rels of powder and a large quantity of baggage and supplies. 

Amherst was slow and cautious. Instead of following up 
the French, he halted his army, and began to repair the fort. 
The Rangers were constantly scouting in the direction of the 
enemy. On the first of August, one of their parties returned 
with news that the French had abandoned Crown Point, with- 
out waiting to destroy it, and retreated down the lake. The 
lilies of France had floated over these waters for the last time. 
The French retired to Isle Aux Noix, which they held with 
a force of thirty-five hundred men. Amherst remained here 
until October, engaged in fitting out a naval force, with which 
he intended to drive the enemy from the lake. When he 
finally moved, the weather was stormy, and winter was at hand. 
He succeeded in destroying the enemy's vessels at the north 
end of the lake, and then returned here into winter quarters. 
Meantime, Rogers, with his Rangers had been sent upon an 



21 

expedition, which for its perseverance through hardship and 
privation, deserves a more full description than it can have in 
this connection. The Indians at the Trois Rivieres had long 
ravaged the northern frontiers with impunity, and Rogers un- 
dertook to chastise them for their savage barbarities. Leaving 
Crown Point on the 12th of September, he went to Missisquoi 
Bay, where, concealing his boats and provisions, he pushed for- 
ward his expedition. On the following day, he was overtaken 
by the guards left to watch the boats, with information that a 
party of four hundred French and Indians had captured his 
boats, and were following him in hot pursuit. Without halting, 
he detached a party and sent it back to Amherst, with direc- 
tions to send provisions across the mountains to the mouth of 
White River, by which route he promptly determined to return. 
Outmarching his pursuers, he reached the Indian village on the 
4th of October, and found the Indians engaged in a scalp 
dance. The sight of some hundreds of American scalps, dis- 
played on poles, did not greatly dispose the hearts of the 
Rangers to mercy. Adopting the Indian practice, they at- 
tacked the village in the gray of the morning, and out of three 
hundred savages, slew two hundred and captured twenty. 
Returning by the Coos route, after great suffering and almost 
in a starving condition, Rogers and his party finally reached 
Crown Point with a loss of three officers and forty-six men.^" 

There was little fighting in this quarter during the next cam- 
paign — that of 1760. An expedition, under Haviland, moved 
down Lake Champlain, driving the French before it, with 
trifling resistance at Isle Aux Noix and St. Johns, until it met 
an army under Amherst, which came through Lake Ontario, 
down the St. Lawrence, and halted in front of Montreal. An 
army from Quebec had also reached the same point. The con- 
quest of Canada was now completed. Montreal surrendered, 

W Marault, Histoire des Abenakis, p. 489. 



22 



and thenceforward, until the peace of 1763, these solitudes 
were no longer vexed by savage or civilized warfare. 



Ticonderoga next demands our attention in its relation to 
our own Revolution. It was the first fortified position won 
from British arms — its capture made revolution»a necessity and 
independence sure. Vermontcrs maintain now, as they always 
have maintained, that this fort was captured by the Green 
Mountain Boys, commanded by their trusted leader, Ethan 
Allen. Within a few years, this claim has been questioned. 
Tlie glory of this achievement has been sought to be awarded 
to an abandoned traitor. Without questioning the motives or 
the research of the advocates of Benedict Arnold, let us try 
here, to-day, upon the very ground itself, to put to rest finally 
and forever, the question— 

WHO TOOK TICONDEROGA? 

This question ought to be settled by evidence cotemporary 
with the act. Such evidence is subject to the legal rule, which 
makes admissible the acts and declarations of the parties imme- 
diately concerned, which, though subsequent to the capture, 
are so directly connected with it as to constitute a part of the 
res gestae. When this evidence is all brought together and 
properly weigiied, it is not impossible that doubts, which have 
been suggested by an imperfect examination of the subject, 
will disappear. 

Let us first briefly notice one or two conditions applicable to 
this evidence. 



23 

The earnest controversy which had long existed between the 
settlers of the New Hampshire Grants and the leading officials 
of New York, not always free from scenes of violence and 
blood, some years before the battle of Lexington, had called 
into existence, upon the Grants, an effective military organiza- 
tion known by the name of the Green Mountain Boys. Many 
of these settlers were old soldiers, who became acqnained with 
the attractions of the country when they were Provincials or 
Rangers, under Putnam, Stark and Rogers. Their colonel and 
leader was Ethan Allen. They were formed into a regiment 
as early as 17T1. We can now trace the existence of five 
companies, each formed in its own locality, and there were 
doubtless others. Seth Warner was captain of the Bennington 
company, which was organized inl764.'"'^ Remember Baker 
was captain of the company raised in Arlington ; Robert Coch- 
ran of the Rupert company, and Gideon Warren of that raised 
in Sunderland and vicinity,^'" Another, raised near the New 
York line, was commanded by Dr. Ebenezer Marvin, of Still- 
water.^'^' These and other companies were well equipped, 
officered and drilled. They knew the value of discipline and 
prompt obedience. They were raised, not for holiday display, 
but to defend their homes and property. The promptness with 
which they obeyed the call of their leaders is illustrated in the 
pursuit and rescue of Baker from his captors, in March, 1772. 

Having no legally organized government, these settlers gave 
the direction of their civil affairs into the hands of small body 
of their wisest men, which was first known as the " Grand 
Committee," and later, as " The Council of Safety." This 
body exercised all the executive powers of a State government, 
for many years. Its sessions were frequent ; and, before the 
Revolution, were usually held at Bennington. It is safe to say, 



<'") Heramenway's Gazetteer, Vol. I., p. 143. 

(") Ira Allen's Hist. Vt., p. 26. ; Hall's Early Hist. Vt., pp. 128-137. 

(12) Hemmeuway's Gaz., Vol. II., tit. Frauklin. 



24 

that in the year 1775, the Grants had as efficient a civil gov- 
ernment as any of the colonies ; and, assuredly, no colony had 
a more thorough military organization. In the hght of these 
well authenticated facts, the evidence bearing upon the question 
before us must be considered. It is obvious that they will ex- 
ercise considerable influence upon its solution. 

With few exceptions, these settlers were New England men 
— attached to her institutions, intrenched in her habits — warm 
disciples of the doctrine of self-government. The same fuel 
which fed the tires of liberty in Fanueil Hall was abundant on 
the Grants. We shall see hereafter that the call for resistance 
to oppression nowhere met with a more hearty, unanimous 
response than from the pioneers among the Green Mountains. 

It was to such a people, thus organized, that John Brown, 
of Pittsfield, came, late in February, 1775, on his way to Can- 
ada. On the 15th of that month, the Congress of Massachu- 
setts, impressed with the necessity of keeping the Canadians 
and Indians neutral, if they could not be won to the popular 
cause in the struggle which they knew was near ; by resolution, 
directed their committee to open a correspondence to that end. 
The committee sent Mr. Brown upon the mission, and fur- 
nished him with letters and documents to promote his success. 
Pittsfield was not a half day's ride from Bennington, where 
Allen lived and the Grand Committee held its sessions. It 
was the principal town upon the great route of emigration to 
the Grants. Its patriotic minister bore Allen's name, and was 
his friend. Communication between these two towns was fre- 
quent, and the condition of affairs upon the Grants must have 
been well known to Brown and his neighlwrs. He a(;ted 
promptly upon that knowledge. He delayed long enough to 
visit Albany, and put himself in communication with Dr. 
Young, and then took the shortest route, across the Grants, to 
Canada. It was a part of his business to " establish a rehable 



25 

means of communication through the GrmitsP That he was 
in close relations with the leaders, we know, for one of them 
became his guide to Canada. This was Peleg Sunderland,^'^^ 
one of the eight whom the officials of New York had outlawed 
and condemned to death, without the trouble of arrest, or the ex- 
pense of a trial. He was sent to inform himself of the feehng 
of the people, and he must have met Colonel Allen, consulted 
with the Grand Committee, and have known of the organiza- 
tion, for he declares that the Green Mountain Boys had un- 
dertaken to capture Ticonderoga. Satisfied with the condition 
of affairs on the Grants, he forced his way through many diffi- 
culties to Canada, made use of his two companions, one of 
whom had been a captive among them, to win over the Indians, 
and having executed his mission, on the 29th of March, writes 
an account of it, from Montreal, to Dr. "Warren and Samuel 
Adams, the Massachusetts Committee, and, as if he were mak- 
ing a new and important suggestion, brouglit to his notice 
while on the Grants, says — • 

" One thing I must mention, to be kept a profound secret. Tlie fort at 
Ticonderoga must be seized as soon as possible, should hostilities be com- 
mitted by the King's troops. The people on the New Hampshire Grants 
have engaged to do this business ; and, in my opinion, they are the most proper 
persons for this job. This will effectually curb this province, and all the 
troops that may be sent here."<'^) 

A moment's reflection makes the fact evident that the pro- 
posal to capture Ticonderoga probably came to Brown from, 
and was not by him suggested to, the people of the Grants. 
He communicated it to the Massachusetts Congress as a proper 
thing to be done, because he supposed it had not occurred to 
them. He wrote the letter after he had had an interview with 
the Yermonters, in which they " engaged to do this business." 
Had Brown thought of it before he visited the Grants, he would 
probably have spoken of it to his associates, and there would 

J'3] App. No. 3. (") App. No. 4. 



26 

have been no necessity for this communication. Which is the 
more probable, that the Yerinonters, wlio lived in the vicinity, 
on an exposed frontier, which would be protected by the cap- 
ture — who knew that Ticonderoga was the very " Gate of the 
Country " (and the only one), through Mdiich a hostile expedi- 
tion from Canada could enter it — many of whom had been 
fighting through lialf a dozen campaigns to take it, should have 
been impressed with the necessity to themselves, as well as the 
colonies, of surprising these forts before they were reinforced, 
and should have seized the first opportunity through Brown of 
making its value known to the other colonies ; or that Brown, 
a resident of Western Massachusetts, and a comparative stran- 
ger to the facts, should have made the suggestion to the Ver- 
monters ? There is nothing in Mr, Brown's letter indicating 
that the idea of the capture originated with him ; and positive 
proof will be cited that it was first proposed by the Yermonters. 

Nor is there the slightest evidence that the proposition of 
Mr. Brown received any attention in Massachusetts. That 
colony was fully occupied with its own concerns, for it was the 
central point of revolution. It had no time to devote to mat- 
ters which directly concerned only this remote northern frontier. 
Although the letter of Mr. Brown shows that the capture of 
this fort was discussed among the Vermonters earlier than else- 
where, I do not regard the fact as of any considerable import- 
ance. In view of the impending contest, it may have occurred 
to thousands ; it must have occurred to those who were acquaint- 
ed with the value of the position in past wars. But they who 
organized the expedition, were ready to act at the proper time, 
and who finally made the capture, are entitled to the credit, 
although a multitude of others had spoken of the enterprise as 
desirable. 

The next witness, in chronological order, is Ethan Allen. 
His full account of the condition of affjiirs upon the Grants, 



27 

and the events which preceded the capture, has not been cited 
hy any of the nuinerotis writers upon this subject. A sur- 
prising omission, in view of the fact that his account was pub- 
lished when there was a half regiment of hving witnesses, 
shortly after the event, and before any controversy in relation 
to it had arisen. It is found in Allen's " Vindication," as it is 
called, published in 1779, only four years after the capture. 

This account not onl}^ throws light upon the question we are 
discussing, but it also proves the spontaneous loyalty of the 
Vermonters to the cause of liberty. It points out their vital 
interest in the coming revolution, for their controversy with the 
New Yorkers had just been submitted to the king and Privy 
Council, with evoxj prospect of an early decision in their favor. 
It refers to tlieir frontier, extended to the Province of Quebec, 
exposed to an enemy in possession of this fort and Crown 
Point, witli a vessel of war upon the lake. " Tlie battle of 
Lexington," says Allen, " almost distracted them, for interest 
inclined them to the royal side of the dispute, but the stronger 
impulses of affection to their country, impelled them to resent 
its wrongs ; " and " tlie ties of consanguinity, similarity of 
religion and manners to New England, whence they had emi- 
grated, weighed heavy in their deliberations." Moreover, they 
"believed the cause of the country to be just," and that '• re- 
sistance to Great Britain had become the indispensable duty of 
a free people ;" in short, he declares that their interest and their 
patriotism were directly opposed. He states that, " soon after 
the news of Lexington battle, the principal officers of the Green 
Movmtain Boys, and other principal inhabitants, were convened 
at Bennington, and attempted to explore futurity, which was 
found to be unfathomable, and the scenes which have since 
taken place, then appeared to be precarious and uncertain ;" 
but after consideration, it was " resolved to take an active part 
with the country, and thereby anniliilate the old quarrel with 



28 

New York, by swallowing it up in the general conflict for lib- 
erty." I invite your special attention to what lie says of 
Ticonderoga : 

"But the enemy having the command of Lake Champlain and the gar- 
risons contiguous to it, was ground of great uneasiness to those inhabit- 
ants who had extended their settlements on the river Otter Creek and 
Onion River, and along the east side of the lake aforesaid, who, in conse- 
quence of a war, would be under the power of the enemy. It was, thei-e- 
fore, projected to surprise the garrisons of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 
with the armed vessel on the lake, and gain the command of that import- 
ant pass ; inasmuch as such an event would in a great measure secure 
those inhabitants from the enemy, obliging them to take post in Canada ; 
but whether such a measure would be agreeable to Congress or not, they 
could not for certain determine. But it was apprehended that if these 
posts were not soon taken they would be strongly reinforced, and become 
impregnable to any attack, short of a regular seige, for which, at that 
time, the country was very deficient in the articles of artillery, &c." 

" While these matters were deliberating, a committee from the Council of 
Connecticut arrived at Bennington, with advice and directions to carry into 
execution the surprise of those garrisons, and, if possible, to gain the 
command of the lake. Which was done without loss of time." <'^> 

We have here Allen's positive declaration that the Yerniont- 
ers, who had the deepest interest in it, projected the capture of 
this fort, before the arrival of the gentlemen from Connecticut, 
and were only restrained from acting through fear of the dis- 
approval of Congress. With this declaration before me, I 
think we carry the admission a little too far, when we say that 
" the honor of devisi7ig and putting the expedition in motion 
belongs to the gentlemen from Connecticut." A more strictly 
accurate statement of the fact, I think, would be that they set 
it in motion ; but that the honor of devising the expedition, as 
well as its successful execution, belongs to the Green Mountain 
Boys. 

Let us now inquire wliat was done in Connecticut by way of 
putting the expedition for the capture of Ticonderoga in 
motion ; and incidentally meet the claim, once put forward by 

["» See App. No. 5. 



29 

Mr. Bancroft, but afterwards withdrawn, that the first impulse 
was given to it by Samuel Adams, when on his way to the 
meeting of Congress. The assertion has been made that in so 
doing, Mr, Adams was acting upon the suggestion of Mr. John 
Brown. But the claim is made by a writer of no authority, 
and who gives no authority for his statement. Colonel Samuel 
H. Parsons, of Connecticut, in a letter to Joseph Trumbull, of 
June 2, 17T5, says ^'^' that on the 26th of April, on his way 
from Massachusetts to Hartford, he met Benedict Arnold, who 
gave him an account of the condition of Ticonderoga, and the 
number of cannon there. Arnold was on his way to Cam- 
bridge, with a company of volunteers. It does not appear that 
anything was said in that interview about the capture of this 
fort. But Colonel Parsons says, that he reached Hartford on 
the forenoon of April 2Tth (Thursday) ; that on his arrival. 
Colonel Sam. "Wyllys, Mr. Deane and himself " first undertook 
and projected the taking of " Ticonderoga ; and with the 
assistance of three other persons, procured money, men, &c., 
and sent them out on this expedition, without any consultation 
with the Assembly or others. The three other persons were 
Thomas Mumford, Christopher Leffingwell and Adam Babcock. 
The receipts signed by these gentlemen show that the next day 
(Friday, the 28th) they procured from the treasury three hund- 
red pounds, which they promised to account for, to the satisfac- 
tion of the colony.^'^* On the same 28th of April, they gave 
the money to Noah Phelps and Bernard Romans, who imme- 
diately started in the direction of the Grants. That Samuel 
Adams and Hancock had nothing to do with the project, is 
shown by Mr. Hancock's letter, dated at Worcester, Mass., on 
the 26th, in which he states his purpose to leave the next day ;<'*' 
and the statement of Mr. Wells, the biographer of Samuel 
Adams, that Adams and Hancock left Worcester in company, 

(1") App. No. 6. (17) Conn. Hist. Soc. Colls., Vol. I., p. 184, 185. 

(18) Force's Archives 4th S., Vol. II., p. 401. 



30 

on the 27tli, and were at Hartford, on the 29th. With the 
slow conveyances of those days, it is impossible that they 
shonld liave reached Hartford before Phelps and Romans had 
left, with the money, on Frida3%^'^' 

From this time, we have the written account of the real direc- 
tor of the expedition, so far as Connecticut is concerned, whose 
particular and minute relation is confirmed by all the other tes- 
timon3\ It is the journal of Captain Edward Mott, who sub- 
sequently acted as the chairman of the committee having the 
enterprise in charge. 

The journal of Captain Mott records his arrival at Hartford, 
and his interview with Messrs. Parsons, Deane and Leffingwell, 
on Friday, April 28th ; their inquiry if he would undertake 
an expedition against Ticonderoga, and his affirmative reply. 
They regretted that he had not arrived one day sooner, for they 
had laid the plan, and sent off Phelps and Romans, with three 
hundred pounds in money, and authority to draw for more if 
needed; that they had gone by the way of Salisbury, where 
Mott could join them, and he received an order to have his 
voice in laying out the money. Mott readily accepted their 
ofier, and with five companions started, on Saturday, the 29th 
of April. They reached Salisbury on the 30th ; increased their 
company to sixteen, and on Monday, May 1st, went to Shef- 
field, whence they sent two of their number to All)any, " to 
ascertain the temper of the people." Monday night, they 
passed with Colonel Easton, in Pittsfield. There they " fell in 
company with John Brown, Esq., who had been at Canada and 
Ticonderoga about a month before." They "concluded to 
make known our (their) business to Colonel Easton and said 
Brown, and take their advice on the same." It is evident that 
their coming was unexpected to Brown and Easton, to whom 
their purpose was then first made known. 

(1 ) See App. No. 7. 



31 

To avoid discovery, they had been advised not to raise their 
men until they reached the Grants ; but Brown and Easton, in 
view of the scarcity of provisions and poverty of the people 
there, thought they had better raise a number of men sooner, 
and Easton offered to enlist some from his own regiment. To 
this they agreed; Easton and Brown joined them; the former 
went to Jericho and Williamstown, wiiere he raised in all thirty- 
nine men, and got them ready to march. Eastc»n and Mott 
then set out for Bennington, where they arrived the next day, 
probably as late as the 4th, perhaps the 5th of May, On their 
way, they met an express, who reported that the fort here was 
repaired ; that the garrison had been reinforced, and was on being 
its guard ; but, disregarding the account, they pressed forward. 

At Bennington, they overtook the rest of their people, ex- 
cept Phelps and Mr. Hancock, who had gone forward to recon- 
noitre the fort, and the two not yet returned from Albany. 
There Romans left them, and " joined no more." " We were 
all glad," says Mott, " as he had been a trouble to us all 
the time he was with us." This Romans, is the " eminent 
engineer," recently brought forward by the admirers of Arnold, 
as one of the leading spirits of the expedition. He was a fit 
companion of Arnold, who finally quarreled himself out of the 
service before the close of the year,*""^ 

The journal of Captain Mott shows that the news from the 
fort was discussed at Bennington, but was considered unreliable. 
Mr. Halsey and Mr. Bull declared that " they would go back 
for no story, until they had seen the fort themselves." Find- 
ing provisions scarce, they sent Captain Stephens and Mr. 
Hewitt to Albany, to purchase and forward them as soon as 
possible. 

Guarding the roads to the west and northward, they pro- 
ceeded to raise men as fast as they could, and on " Sundaj'-, the 

<2<') Force's Archives, 4th S., Vol. 3, p. 1364^7. 



32 

Ttli of May, they all arrived at Castleton, the place we (they) 
had appointed for the men all to meet;" and on Monday, May 
8th, " the committee all got together, to conclude in what man- 
ner we would proceed to accomplish our design, of which com- 
mittee I (Mott) was chairman." After debating the various 
proposals, and what to do in the event of a repulse, they " re- 
solved and voted " to despatch thirty men, under Captain Her- 
rick, to Skenesborough, to seize Major Skene, his party and 
boats ; and take the latter, on the following night, down the 
lake to Shoreham,to be in readinesstocarry the detachment, on 
its arrival, across to Ticonderoga, where the rest of the men, 
one hundred and forty in number, were also to march the next 
day. Captain Douglas was to go to Crown Point, where his 
brother-in-law was, and endeavor, by some stratagem, to get 
possession of the king's boats, to assist in carrying over the 
men." '-'■ It was further agreed that Colonel Ethan Allen 
should have the command of the party that should go against 
Ticonderoga^ agreeable to my jyromise, made to the men when 
I engaged them to go, that they should be C07n7nanded by their 
own officers.'^'' " The whole plan," he continues, " was settled 
by a vote of the committee. In the evening, after tlie party 
to Skenesborough was drafted out, "Colonel Allen went to 
Mr. Wessel's, in Shoreham, to meet some men who were to 
come in there, having received his orders at what time he must 
be ready to take possession of the garrison of Ticonderoga."'*^'^ 

Leaving now the journal of Captain Mott, for the time, with 
the little patriot army taking a night's rest at Castleton, it may 
interest you to devote a few minutes to Allen's connection, up 
to this point, with the enterprise, and the circumstances under 
which his men were brought together. 

The controversy with the land speculators of New York, 
then more than twelve years old, had brought Allen into pub- 

App. No. 8. 



33 

lie notice throughout the colonies. During the past year, he 
had been especially conspicuous. The land jobbers, who then 
controlled New York legislation, had proclaimed him an out- 
law, and set a price upon his head. He had answered them 
with characteristic defiance. In the other colonies he was 
looked upon as a man of great energy, firmness and intrepidity, 
possessing all the qualities of an effective military leader. By 
the Vermonters, with whom he had rendered himself popular 
by many acts of unselfish generosity, he was regarded as a per- 
fectly fearless enemy of every species of injustice and oppres- 
sion. Few men in America then occupied a larger share of 
the public attention ; there were none whose courage was less 
questionable. 

The miHtary organization of the Vermonters, with Allen as 
their colonel, and the evidence that they had projected the cap- 
ture of this fort previous to the arrangement with Brown, in 
March, has already been mentioned. It may not be proved by 
direct evidence that all this was well known to Colonel Parsons 
and his associates in Connecticut; but I think a traverse 
jury would find that it was from the circumstances. Wli}'^, it 
may be asked ; did not Parsons and his co-workers raise their 
force in Connecticut, or on their way, in Massachusetts ? Why 
were Phelps and Romans sent straight to the Grants, with 
orders n,ot to raise men until they reached there, if these facts 
were not well known to their principals ? They went by way 
of Salisbury, the old home of Ethan Allen, where his two 
brothers, Levi and Heman, then lived. Their first act was to 
send Heman, as an express to Bennington, to inform Ethan of 
their coming; and Levi was the first man who joined the 
expedition. Mott and his party made a stop at Pittsfield. 
Here the Rev. Thomas Allen, the intimate friend of Ethan and 
John Brown, was the settled minister,'^^' and here Brown, who 

W See App. No. 9. 



34 

had returned from the Grants only a month before, where he 
had discussed the subject of the capture, joined them. When 
the Connecticut party reached Bennington, they found the 
officers of Allen's regiment actually in consultation upon the 
subject, with the Grand Committee, and only restrained from 
acting through fear of the disapproval of Congress. That the 
leader of the Green Mountain Boys should lead this expedition 
was the spontaneous thought of every one. Up to the night 
of May 8th, at Castleton, no other leader was thought of by 
anybody. An account published in the Hartford Courant of 
May 22d, not two weeks after the capture, speaks of the 
eno-ao-ement of Brown and Easton by Mott, at Fittsfield, and 
says : " They likewise immediately despatched an express to the 
intrepid Colonel Ethan Allen, desiring him to be ready to join 
them with a party of his valiant Green Mountain Boys." A 
letter from Fittsfield, of May 4th, the day that Mott, Easton 
and Brown left there, refers to their departure, "expecting to 
be reinforced by a thousand men from the Grants above here, 
a post having previously taken his departure to inform Colonel 
Ethan Allen of the design, desiring him to hold his Green 
Mountain Boys in actual readiness.'""* Captain Elisha Phelps, 
in a letter of May 16th, writes: " When we left Hartford, our 
orders were to repair to the Grants^ and raise an army of 
men. * * * We pursued to Bennington, where we met 
Colonel Ethan Alle?i, who was much pleased with the expedi- 
tion."^'^** Finally, Allen himself declares that, "tlie first sys- 
tematical and bloody attempt at Lexington to enslave America, 
thoroughly electrified my mind, and fully determined me to 
take part with my country ; and while I was M'Ishing for an 
opportunity to signalize mj^self in its behalf, dir^ections wei'e 
privately sent to me from the tlien Colony (now State) of Con- 
necticut, to raise the Green Mountain Boys, and with them (if 

(J3) Force, Vol. ii. p. 507. <"> Conu. Hist. Coll. 2, Vol. i., p. 175. 



35 

possible) to surprise and take the fortress, Ticonderoga. This 
enterprise I cheerfully undertook. "^'^^^ 

Such evidence fills up the measure of proof beyond doubt, 
reasonable or otherwise, that the Yermonters were ready ; that 
the men of Connecticut knew they were prepared ; that Allen 
was the natural leader of the expedition. Against the solid 
wall of fact w^hich it builds up, the detractors of Allen, the 
libellers of the Yermonters, the latter-day admirers of Bene- 
dict Arnold, will bring the little canons of their criticism to 
bear in vain. On this subject, I shall produce no other wit- 
nesses. " They who hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
wull they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." 

Yermonters ! have you ever considered the circumstances 
under which this force was raised ? Go back with me to these 
Grants in May, 1775. The Revolution has scarcel}^ com- 
menced ; Independence is not yet declared ; British tyranny is 
not here especially oppressive ; British troops have not vexed 
tliis people. The country is a wilderness. So slight an im- 
pression has the axe of the settler made on the primeval forests, 
that one who saw them from a little distance would think they 
had never been touched by the hand of man. The stumps are 
undecayed in the oldest clearing ; there is not here a city, 
town or village — scarcely a hamlet ; for Bennington, the earli- 
est Grant, has not had its church and country store for half a 
score of years. Instead of railways and turnpikes, there are 
foot-paths and lines of marked trees. A single road west of 
the Mountains leads up to the old route to Crown Point, and 
there is scarcely another. Mails and post-offices are unknown. 
Wagons and other wheeled vehicles are not yet introduced. 
Travel is on foot. It is the most recently settled section of the 
colonies. 

Through this wilderness, from the Massachusetts line to the 

[«) Allen's Narrative, p. 2. 



36 

Winooski River, there are scattered settlers. Each has located 
upon some share in a Grant, bought before his immigration, 
and this fact has located them widely apart. Tliere is no State, 
county or town organization. All the government is purely 
voluntary. There are no binding laws ; there is no power to 
enforce obedience to law. There are only the Grand Commit- 
tee, Allen and the other leaders, and the Green Mountain 
Boys. 

In this world's goods these settlers are very poor ; they lack 
the necessaries of life. " The people on the Grants are in 
much distress for want of provisions," writes Captain Plielps, 
on the 6th of May. " There was great scarcity of provisions ; 
the people are generally poor," says the journal of Captain 
Mott; and he relates how he sent his agents to Albany, to buy 
provisions, and forward them as soon as possible. Yes ! they 
were poor enough, in all but love of liberty ; in that, perhaps 
you are no richer to-day. 

Can an army be raised under such conditions, among such a 
people? Not to resist an attack, but to make one, and that 
the first in a Revolution ; to invade, and not to repel invasion. 
Not to defend the family and the fireside, but to engage in 
aggressive rebellion, in which failure brings the doom of trea- 
son to all ; to capture, by force of arms, the first fort from 
Great Britain, once their mother country, henceforth to be their 
powerful, remorseless enemy ; and all tliis with a celerity which 
must achieve success by a surprise ? Who would not have 
answered : "In New York or Massachusetts, witli their great 
cities, towns, civil organizations and dense populations, possibly 
yes; but here, on the New Hampshire Grants, in 1775, no; 
you state an impossibility ! " 

And yet that army was raised. On the ninth, certainly with- 
in ninety-six, and probably within seventy-two hours from 
Moit's arrival at Bennington, it was raised on these Grants, and 



37 

counting detached parties, it stood three hundred strong, on 
the east shore of Lake Champlain, sixty miles away from the 
point of its origin, armed, equipped and officered, its plans all 
matured, ready to fall upon and capture Ticonderoga. How 
was this result accomplished ? 

This question has never been satisfactorily answered. Those 
concerned were proud of their success, but seem not to have 
been aware that in the quickness of their gathering, or energy 
of their movements, there was anything extraordinary. They 
did not care to preserve the facts ; and now the closest search 
reveals but little information on the subject. There is, how- 
ever, one fact, briefly stated. Perhaps it is enough, for it illu- 
minates the subject. From Castleton, Allen sent out a mes- 
senger to summon men to meet him at Shoreham, who made 
a circuit of sixty miles in a single day. He must have had 
a fleet horse, you will say ; over such roads, through such for- 
ests, sixty miles was a long day's journey for any horseman. 
No ! Major Beach went, not on horseback, h^it on foot, from 
Castleton through Rutland, Pittsford, Brandon, Middlebury, 
Whiting, to Hand's Cove, in Shoreham, in twenty-four hours, 
summoning his men by the way,'^^* Such a fact requires no com- 
ment. If such was their energy, even the raising of this army 
was a possibility. 

Look at the picture ! Allen determines to undertake the 
enterprise. Instantly his messengers, stout of heart, and fleet 
of foot, bound away in all directions : over the mountains, 
through the deep forests and tangled brushwood, across rivers, 
up the hills and down into the valleys, to every cabin which is 
the home of a Green Mountain Boy ! Their stay is short ; their 
words are few. " Allen summons ; the meet is Shoreham ; 
the business, Ti. ; the time, now ; " and he is ofi" to the next 
settler, perhaps miles away. Brief, also, is the preparation. 

w App. No. 10. 



38 

Allen knows they will not fail him ; they know what Allen 
expects. Home, business, family, nor excuse, delays the farmer. 
Boklier. The rifle, the bullet-pouch and powder-horn are 
always ready. The wife fills up the knapsack with provisions 
for the march; and, be it midnight or high noon, he is away, 
before the short prayer can be uttered for his safe return. See 
them, as they come, striding over the liills, winding along the 
mountain paths, down into the valley, to the one higlnvay that 
leads northward ! They have no uniforms ; no strains of nui- 
sic animate their march. ]Not in ranks or by platoons, but by 
twos or threes or singly, with swift and steady step, they move 
towards the place of muster. Below every silent lip, beneath 
every buckskin jacket, is a great, patriotic heart. On the face 
of this revolving globe, there are no truer soldifers. Behold 
them, O ye warriors on paper, who would rob them and their 
leader of laurels bravely won ! They are going to write his- 
tory with their bayonets ; to launch a new power among the 
nations into being ! The Spirit of Liberty is abroad. On the 
mountain summit she is bathing her jubilant feet in the rising 
sunlight of a new-born nation's gloiy. She has sounded forth 
her summons to battle ! These are her mountain children ; 
this their answer to her bugle call ! 

We now return to Castleton. It is tlie evening of the 8th 
of May. The party has been drafted out and sent after Major 
Skene. Ethan Allen has gone to Shorehain. All the plans 
are settled ; Easton is second, and Warner third in command. 
The weary soldiers are preparing for their needed rest. Now, 
there is the bustle of an arrival, and Benedict Arnold appears 
upon the scene. He is a colonel five days old — a stranger to 
every one of the party. His appearance is imposing. His 
new and unsoiled uniform gleams with golden splendor beneath 
his waving plume and sparkling epaulets. He is not alone. 



39 

No ! He is " attended " by a servant — of the geiius, valet de 
chamhre — the only one in that camp, the first recorded appear- 
ance of the species in Yermont. To the soldiers of Ethan 
Allen he makes the cool proposal to take the command away 
from their old leader, and to elect himself chief of the expe- 
dition ! 

Genius of the grotesque ! Did the pencil of caricature ever 
draw a more ludicrous picture ? Does any man with a gleam 
of common sense, doubt how such men received such a propo- 
sition from Benedict Arnold ? 

In relation to this and subsequent events, the testimony is 
abundant. In addition to his journal, Captain Mott, the day 
after the capture, wrote a detailed account of the expedition to 
the Congress of Massachusetts. This document shows that 
when Arnold arrived, Allen had left Castleton, and did not see 
him until he went forward and overtook him the next morning. 
Mott himself was with the Skenesborough party, a mile and a 
half from the others, and was sent for when Arnold claimed 
the command. " We told him," writes Mott," that we could 
not surrender the command to him, as our people were raised 
on condition that they should be commanded by their own 
officers.'''' " We were extremely rejoiced to see that you agreed 
with us as to the expediency and importance of taking posses- 
sion of those garrisons ; but were shockingly surprised when 
Colonel Arnold presumed to contend for the command of those 
forces that we had raised." " But Mr. Arnold, after we had 
generously told him our whole plan, strenuously contended and 
insisted upon his right to command them and all their ofii- 
cers."''^''^ 

Arnold's impudent pretensions, as might naturally be sup- 
posed, raised a storm of indignation among the soldiers. They 
" bred such a mutiny," continues Mott, that they "nearly 

i*''J See Mott's Journal, supra. 



40 

frustrated our whole design, as our men were for clubbing their 
lirelocks and marcliing home ;" but they were prevented by 
their officers. Mott, evidently, did not very well understand 
Allen's character, for when Arnold went forward to overtake 
him, his whole party followed, leaving all the proAnsions, " for 
fear he should prevail on Colonel Allen to resign the com- 
mand ;" and as he had to go back after the supplies, he did 
not again overtake them until the first party had crossed the 
lake. Arnold succeded no better with Allen than he had with 
his soldiers. That Allen did not put him under guard, or 
somewhere else, to suppress his pertinacious impudence, is proof 
that he deemed his claims too idle to merit any serious atten- 
tion. It was necessary, how^ever, for him to reason with his 
men. Mott states, that " Allen and Easton told them that he 
(Arnold) should not have the command of them ; and if he 
had, their pay should be the same." Their answer showed that 
compensation had but little influence upon their view of the 
subject ; for, says Mott, " they would damn their pay, and say 
they would not be commanded by any others but those they 
engaged with." Up to the arrival at Shoreham, it seems rea- 
sonably certain that Arnold was not much in command of the 
expedition, and it is equally clear that it had not yet been con- 
verted into that double-headed military monstrosity — a force 
with two commanders. 

It has been supposed by many that the expedition followed 
the nearest route through Benson, to a point opposite the fort 
in Orwell. This supposition is incorrect. Leaving Castleton, 
it moved by the way of Sudbury, where it struck the old 
Crown Point road, and following that through Whiting, 
reached the lake shore at Hand's Cove in Shoreham, about 
two miles north of the fort on the other side. The distance by 
this route was about twenty-five miles, seven or eight farther 
than by the other. There were two reasons for taking it : it 



41 

was farther from the lake, and there was less hazard of dis- 
covery, and it brought them to the shore in a wooded ravine, 
where they were perfectly sheltered from observation.*'^^ 

The party arrived at Hand's Cove after nightfall on the ninth 
of May, strengthened by the addition of one hundred recruits. 
It has been stated that Arnold, failing to secure the command, 
had joined it as a volunteer. Of this I have found no evidence 
whatever. From his character, and wliat took place the next 
morning, it is more probable that he followed it, growling and 
disappointed. 

Upon reaching the lake, they found no means of crossing. 
The party sent to Skenesborough, to bring the boats found 
there down the lake, had not arrived ; there was no news from 
Captain Douglass, who had gone " to obtain some of the boats 
at Crown Point by stratagem." Allen could not send up the 
lake after boats without risking challenge from the fort. The 
chances of crossing that night seemed doubtful ; the morning 
would bring discovery. 

But Douglass had not failed, nor did Allen despair. There 
was a scow at Bridport, belonging to Mr. Smith, and Douglass 
went for it. On his way, he called at the house of Mr. Stone, 
in Bridport, to secure the assistance of one Chapman. The 
inmates were all at rest for the night ; but two young Ver- 
monters, James Wilcox and Joseph Tyler, aroused from their 
sleep in a chamber, overheard the conversation between Doug- 
lass and Chapman, and instantly formed the project of decoy- 
ing on shore Major Skene's large row boat, which lay otF 
"Willow Point, on Smith's farm in the north-west corner of 
Bridport, nearly opposite Crown Point, in charge of a colored 
master, whose love for liquid comforts was universally under- 
stood. They dressed, seized their guns and a jug of " New 
England," hurried off, picking up four armed companions on 



<28) Goodhue's Hist. Shoreham, p. 13. 



42 

tlieir way to the shore. Hailing the boat, they offered to help 
row it to Slioreham. Tlio persuasion of the jug was too much 
for tlic colored captain, and the s,to\y that they were on their 
way to join a hunting party waiting at Slioreham, alla^'ed all 
his suspicions. The boat came over, started at once, and poor 
Jack and his two companions did not discover what kind of 
hunting was on foot, until they found themselves prisoners of 
war.<^'' 

Tliis boat, and Douglass, with the scow, reached Hand's 
Cove about the same time, in the latter y)art of the night; 
other small boats had also been collected. Although every man 
was eager to be first across, the boats would not carry half the 
party. Allen and eighty-two men embarked ; one hundred and 
eighty-seven, under Warner, Avere left behind. The heavily 
laden boats had to be rowed to the landing selected, a little 
north of another Willow Point, on the New York shore — a 
distance of nearly two miles. Here, just as the dawn began to 
Ijo-ht up tlie eastern horizon, they landed in silence, formed in 
three parallel lines, and sent back the boats for their com- 
panions. 

Allen now takes up the story : " The day began to dawn, 
and I found myself under a necessity to attack the fort before 
the rear could cross tlie lake ; and, as it was viewed hazardous, 
I harano-ued the officers and soldiers in the manner followina: : 
' Friends and fellow soldiers ! You have, for a number of years 
past, been a scourge and terror to arbitrary power. Your valo 
has been famed abroad, and acknowledged, as appears by the 
advice and orders to me (from the General Assembly of Con- 
necticut) to surprise and take the garrison now before us. I 
now propose to advance before you, and, in person, conduct 
you through the wicket gate ; for we must, this morning, either 
quit our pretensions to valor, or possess ourselves of this fortress 

(«» App., No. 11. 



43 

in a few minutes ; and, inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt 
(which none but the bravest men dare undertake), I do not urge 
it on any, contrary to his wilL Yon tiiat Avill undertake, 
vohmtarily, poise your jBrelocks.' " '^"^ 

Every man poises his musket. They face to the right 
young Beeman, who hves jnst opposite, who has passed much 
time at the Fort, who knows all its passages, buildings and 
quarters, is their guide. Allen heads the center file. " For- 
ward ! " is the word of command. Directed by Eeeman, they 
follow Allen through a covered way to the gate. Here, a 
sentinel, confused by their approach, forgets to give the alarm, 
but aims his musket at Allen, and pulls the trigger. It misses 
fire. Allen rushes at him ; he gives a shout, and retreats into 
the fort, under the shelter of a bomb-proof. The men press on 
inside the walls to the parade, where, facing tlie barracks, they 
form like regulars, and give three huzzas, which arouse the 
sleeping garrison. A guard thrusts at an officer of the invad- 
ing force with his bayonet, and slightly wounds him. Allen 
strikes up the weapon, and deals a blow at the assailant's head. 
His life is saved by a comb, which turns the force of the blow • 
he drops his gun and asks for quarter. " AYliere is the officer 
in command ! " thunders the leader. He is shown to a room on 
the second floor of the officers' quarters ; he summons Captain 
Delaplace to come forth, or he will sacrifice the o-arrison. 
Aroused from his sleep, half naked and half stupified, clothes 
in hand, he appears, and, in reply to Allen's demand for instant 
surrender, asks, " By what authority ? " " In the name of the 
Great Jehovah, and the Continental Congkess ! " is the 
answer. He hesitates. Of Congress, he knows but little. 
The demand is repeated. He submits, and orders his men to 
parade without arms, for ho has given up the garrison. Mean- 
time, the impatient Vermonters have beaten down the doors 



(SO) Allen's Narrative, p. 2. 



44: 

and captured half the enemy. Officers and men parade on the 
square ; the cry of joyous triumph snhites the glad sun as it 
bursts over the eastern liills. Defiance and Independence roll 
back the echoing shouts of the sons of liberty. The first 
victory for freedom has been won ; the first British fort has 
been captured, and Ticonderoga has surrendered to the hero of 
the Green Mountains ! 

The men left upon the eastern shore of the lake, less fortun- 
ate, but not less brave, led by the gallant Warner, now arrive 
to join in the triumph of their comrades. Doubtless, as Allen 
says, there was some " tossing of the flowing bowl," and the 
war whoop with which, according to one account, the assail- 
ants swarmed througli the wicket and over the walls, was not 
wholly silenced by the surrender. Warner insists on his right 
to go at once and attack Crown Point. He sets off, and that 
fortress falls the next day.'^'' The " Gate of the Country" is 
held by the sons of liberty. They have made that capture 
which, under the circumstances, was of greater value to the 
popular cause than any other that could liave been made in all 
the colonies. 

Since my purpose is the examination of disputed questions, 
rather than the presentation of familiar history, I proceed to 
the next piece of evidence which bears upon the point in con- 
troversy. Though one day later than the report of the " War 
Committee," it should be introduced here. It is Allen's letter 
to the Albany Committee, of May 11th, '^^^ in which occurs the 
expression : " I took the Fortress of Ticonderoga ; Colonel 
Easton and his valiant soldiers greatly distinguished themselves. 
* * * Colonel Arnold entered the fortress with vie^ side 
by side.'''' 

We left Arnold on the road to Shoreham, with his claim to 

13>J App., No. 13. [«3 App., No. 13. 



45 

command repudiated by the officers and angry soldiers. His 
conduct could not have commended him to the favor of Allen, 
and yet, as the record has stood hitherto, Allen seems to have 
gone quite out of his way to assign him a prominent place in 
the attack, though careful, at the same time, to assert his own 
exclusive authority. Upon this expression in Allen's letter, the 
advocates of Arnold have, in great part, founded his claims. 

It is obvious that Allen's expression has some explanation — 
that we have not had the whole story. So singular has this 
expression seemed, that some have thought the reference to 
Arnold an interpolation. 

It is well, therefore, that the explanation has been furnished. 
Truth is always consistent with itself, and the explanation not 
only proves the exclusive character of Allen's command, but it 
presents the two men in their true characters. Allen, rough 
and unpolished, but with no jealousy in his heart towards the 
man who sought to deprive him of the only position he seems 
to have coveted ; Arnold, conceited and imperious, so selfish, 
that he was willing to imperil success for his own advancement. 
The evidence now ofiered, throws light just where the story 
requires it. It is to be found in a modest town history — an 
example of a class of books now little prized, but which, in 
future times, will be preserved among the treasures of the his- 
torical collector. 

The Rev, Josiah F. Goodhue was the compiler of a " History 
of the Town of Shoreham." He was long and well known in 
Western Vermont. For nearly a fourth of a century, he was 
the settled minister of that town, where his faithful service will 
long be held in grateful remembrance. Numbers who hear me, 
will testify to his many qualifications as a historian, and con- 
firm my own opinions, based upon an acquaintance of thirty 
years. His judgment was cool and clear. Cautious, almost to 
incredulity, he was incapable of reaching a conclusion until it 



46 

was fully supported by reliable testimony. A fact recorded by 
him, on the evidence of others, is a guaranty that the evidence 
existed, and that, in the opinion of a competent judge, it was 
reliable. 

The account given by Mr. Goodhue of tlie expedition, pre- 
vious to tlio crossing of the first detachment, does not differ 
from that of other authors. After stating that when the first 
party landed, " it began to be liglit," he continues : 

" Allen therefore determined not to await the arrival of the 
rest of the men from the other side, but to push on immedi- 
ately to the attack. When Allen gave the word of command 
to march forward, Arnold, contrary to tlie arrangement made 
at Castleton, interposed, and claimed liis right to take command 
and lead the men, and swore that he would go into the fort 
first. Allen swore he should not, but that he himself would 
first enter. The dispute running high, Allen, turning to Amos 
Callender, of Shoreham, said : ' What shall I do with the d— d 
rascal ? shall I put him under guard ? ' Callender, regretting 
such an occurrence at such a critical time, and feeling the 
importance of setting forward immediately, and of acting in 
perfect harmony, advised them to settle the difficulty by agree- 
in o- to enter the fort together. They both assented, and set 
forward under the guidance of a young man named Beeman, 
etc." His account of the entry and capture is the same as that 
given by Allen in his " Narrative." 

Mr. Goodlme's authority for this relation is presented in these 
words : " These statements I liad from Major Noah Callender, 
son of Amos Callender, who was with his father at the time." 
He gives the language of Allen's demand for the surrender, 
" By the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Allen 
states it, " In the name of, etc," 

Referring to the time when his history was written, Mr. 
Goodhue speaks of Major Callender in these terms : " It was a 



4:7 

happy circumstance that Major Noah Callender had not then 
passed away, whose memory, though he was then more than 
eighty years old, remained unimpaired. The autlior held 
frequent conversations with him, and noted down whatever he 
deemed important for the prosecution of his work, and it is 
with pleasure lie is able to state that, on no iniportant point, has 
he found Major Callender's statements to be erroneous, after 
having subjected them to the severest tests." This opinion of 
his character is supported by all his neighbors, among whom 
his long, industrious life was passed. 

All the relations hitherto cited, bearing upon the claims of 
Arnold, have been silent as to everything which transpired be- 
tween the departure from Castleton and tlie entry of the fort. 
The only occasioa upon which Allen refers to him, is when 
writing to the Albany Committee. Mott and his associates, to 
whose authority all but Arnold promptly submitted, bad 
deiiniiely giv3n Allen the command, by vote, before he left 
Castleton. The statement of Major Callender fills the hiatus 
in the evidence between Castleton and the entry of the fort, 
and shows that Arnold was permitted to enter the fort with 
Allen, to settle a dispute which the former had created, after 
the first party had landed, which threatened tlie success of the 
expedition. It also proves that Arnold's claim to command 
was rejected on the very eve of the entry. Allen's expression 
in his letter is explained ia a manner which excludes tlie con- 
clusion that he yielded the command to him in the slightest 
degree, and thus, the only evidence in Ai-nold's favor, except 
liis own assei'tions, disappears from tlie historical record. '^^^ 

On the same day, with his letter to Albany, Allen wrote an 
account of the capture of the fort to the Congress of Massa- 
chusetts. In the latter, he asserts that he (captured the fort 
with a force of Green Mountain Boys, aided by soldiers from 

[33] Goodhue's History of Shoreham, 12 to 15. 



48 

Massachusetts. He speaks in terms of warm commendation of 
Colonel Easton and-Mr. Brown, but does not mention Arnold, 
— a singular omission, if Arnold participated in the command, 
when he was writing an official report to the authority from 
which the latter claimed to hold his commission.'^' 

After the surrender, tlie proofs accumulate of Arnold's 
envy and disappointment. He could not be contented to yield 
to Allen the credit of the capture. " He again," says the 
journal of Captain Mott, " challenged the command, and in- 
sisted that he had a right to liave it, on lohich our soldiers 
again paraded^ and declared they loould go right home, for 
they would not be commanded by Arnold. I told them 
they should not, and at length pacified them ; and then reasoned 
with Arnold, and told him as he had not raised any men, he 
could not expect to have the command of ours. He still in- 
sisted, etc." In liis letter, as chairman of the Committee of 
War, May 11th, Mott adds: "After the surrender, Arnold 
again assumed the command of the garrison, althougli he had 
not one man there, and demanded it of Colonel Allen, on 
which we gave Colonel Allen his orders, in writing, as followeth, 
viz. : 

" To Colonel Ethan Allin : 

Sir — Whei'eas, agreeable to the power and authoritj' to us given by the 
Colony of Connecticut, we have appointed you to take command of a 
party of men, and reduce and take possession of the garrison of Ticon- 
deroga and the dependencies ; and, as you are now in possession of the 
same, you are hereby directed to keep the possession of said garrison for 
the use of the American Colonies, till you have further orders from the 
Colony of Connecticut, or from the Continental Congress. 

Signed, per order of the Committee, 

TicoNDEUOGA, May 10, 1775. EDWARD iMOTT, C7uiirnian." 

In the same letter the Committee commend Colonel Easton 
as well qualified for a colonel's command in the field. They 

P4J App., No. 14. 



49 

also "recommend John Brown, of Pittsfield, as an able coim 
sellor, full of spirit and resolution," and "i^wisli they may both 
be employed in the service of their country, equal to their 
merit." 

The annoyance caused by Arnold's quarrelsome pertinacity 
is apparent from a letter, written on the day of the capture, to 
the Congress of Massachusetts, signed by James Easton, Epap. 
Bull, Edward Mott and Noah Phelps, as "Committee of War 
for the expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point." '^' 
It sets forth that, " previous to Arnold's arrival, the Committee 
had raised the force, marched it witliin a few miles of the fort," 
and, " this morning, at daybreak, took possession of said fort, 
and have given the command thereof into the hands of Colonel 
Ethan Allen. And said Arnold refuses to give up his com- 
mand, which causes much difficulty ; said Arnold not having 
enlisted one man, neither do wc know that he has, or could do 
it. And as said Committee have raised the men, and are still 
raising supplies for the purpose of repairing said forts, taking 
the armed sloop, and defending this country and said forts, we 
think that said Arnold's furtlier procedure in this matter highly 
inexpedient, both in regard to expense and defense." As these 
gentlemen were not acting under Massachusetts, nor bound to 
report to her Congress, this letter seems to have been written 
to induce Arnold's recall. 

Colonel Allen's letter to Governor Trumbull, of May 15th, 
is next in order.'^^^ This letter does not mention Arnold's name, 
and it was carried by the detachment sent to Connecticut with 
the prisoners. " I make you a present," writes Allen, " of a 
major, a captain and two lieutenants, in the regular establish- 
ment of George the Third. I hope they may serve as ransoms 
for some of our friends at Boston." He announces his purpose 
to capture the royal sloop cruising on the lake ; states that the 

t35] Mott's Journal and Letter, supra. l^sj 1, Conn. H. S. Coil's., p. 178. 



50 

enterprise has been approved of by the Green Mountain Boys, 
and his confidence in its success, and subscribes himself, " At 
present, Commander of Ticonderoga." 

On the 16th of May, a week after the capture. Captain 
Phelps addressed a letter from Skenesborough to the General 
Assembly of Connecticut, in whicli he recounts the progress of 
the expedition ; the rendezvous at Castleton ; the reconnois- 
sance of the fort, and says : " On the 1 0th day of May instant, 
we took Fort Ticonderoga, and also Major Skene, and have 
sent them, with proper guards, to Hartford. There is, at the 
fort, about two Inmdred men, — in a fort of broken walls and 
gates, and but few cannon in order, and very much out of re- 
pair; and in a great quarrel with Colonel Arnold^ who 
shall command the fort^ even that some of the soldiers 
threaten the life of Colonel Arnold." * * " I also saw a 
young gentleman from Albany, that says they disapproved of 
our proceeding in taking the fort, in that we did not acquaint 
them of it before it was done. Perhaps it would be well if 
some gentleman should wait on the Congress at New York, so 
as to keep peace with them." '^^' 

It is in the highest degree improbable, that the cotemporary 
accounts should be erroneous in respect to the question of com- 
mand. On the 17th of May, the " Spy," published at Worces- 
ter, Mass., contained an account of the expedition, which states 
that the men were raised by Colonels Allen and Easton, 
" agreeable to a plan formed in Connecticut." It relates the 
sending of one party of about thirty men to take Major Skene 
into custody ; that the remainder crossed the lake in the night, 
landed about half a mile from said fortress, and at break of 
day. May 10th, made the assault with great intrepidity; our 
men darting like liglitning upon tlie guards, gave them just 
time to snap two guns, before they took them prisoners. This 

is'l App., No. 15. 



51 

was immediately followed by a reduction of the fort and its 
dependencies." In this account, the value of the captured 
property is given at not less than three hundred thousand 
pounds, or a million and a lialf of dollars. In this particular 
statement, there is no reference to Arnold. ^^'' 

The captured officers were sent to Connecticut in charge of 
Messrs. Hickok, Halsey and Nichols, who reached Hartford on 
the 16th of May, with Allen's letter to Governor Trumbull, of 
the 12th, before cited. The remaining prisoners reached Hart- 
ford on Saturday, two days later, in cliarge of Epaphras Bull, 
a member of the committee of which Mott was chairman. 
The Hartford " Courant," published on the next Monday, con- 
tains an " Authentic account of the Fortress of Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point," in which it is stated that ^^ Colonel Allen, 
commanding the soldiery, on Wednesday morning they sur- 
prised and took possession of the fortress." Governor Hall 
expresses Avhat must be the conclusion of every impartial mind 
when he says : " This account, brought direct from Ticonderoga 
by the persons having charge of the prisoners, and who be- 
longed to the party sent from Hartford with the expedition, is 
entitled to the characto" and credit of an official report. '^^' 

The man who should know best w^ho his captor was, was the 
commander of Ticonderoga. He knew to whom he surrendered 
the fort, and who made the demand for its surrender. The 
singular arrangement of a divided command would have 
attracted the notice of a military officer. The evidence of 
Captain Delaplace, therefore, may well be regarded as conclu- 
sive. On the 2-lth of May, within two weeks of the event, he 
drew up a memorial for the release of himself and his captured 
companions. In this memorial, presented to the General 
Assembly of Connecticut on the day of its date, he says : 
" That on the morning of the 10th of May, the garrison of the 



t'«i App., No. 16. m Hall's Address, p. 31, 



52 

Fortress of Ticonderoga, in the Province of New York, was 
surprised by a party of armed men, tinder the command of 
one Ethan Allen^ consisting of about one hundred and fifty, 
who had taken such measures as etfectually to surprise the 
same ; that very little resistance could be made, and to whom 
your memorialists were obliged to surrender as prisoners ; and, 
overpowered by a superior force, were disarmed, and hy said 
Alle7i ordered innuediately to be sent to Hartford." ''"^ 

On the 18th of May, the ISew York journals published what 
was termed "An authentic account of the taking" of these 
forts. They describe the movement from Connecticut, the 
journey of Mott, Brown and Easton, and say: "The men were 
raised, and proceeded, as directed by said Mott and Phelps, — 
Colonel Ethan Allen commanding the soldiery.'''' This 
account does not refer to Arnold. At that time it was not 
supposed that Arnold would attempt to assert a claim to the 
actual command, whatever might have been his opinion of his 
right to it, as a question of conflicting authority.*^'' 

Upon what evidence, then, is the claim founded, that Arnold 
had any part in the origin of the expedition against Ticonder- 
oga ; or that he participated in the capture, othei'wise than as 
an obstruction which imperilled its success ? I think the answer 
must be, that it rests on the unsupported testimony of a single 
witness, unworthy of credit, habitually untrutlifnl — as unre- 
liable as was ever cited by a writer of history. Tliat witness 
is Arnold himself. Your attention is invited to an examination 
of his evidence. 

It will be remembered that Colonel Parsons met Arnold, 
and conversed with him about Ticonderoga, on tlie 26th of 
April. AVe do not know what passed in that interview, but, in 
the then impending excitement, it is improbable that its capture, 



(40) 



App.l7. (">SeeApp.l8. 



53 

and its value to the colonies, should not have formed the sub- 
ject of conversation. On the 30th, Arnold addressed a note 
to the Massachusetts Committee, describing the condition of 
the fort, but silent on the subject of its capture. On the 
second of May, the Committee appointed a sub-connnittee to 
confer with Arnold relative to a proposal made by him, for an 
attempt upon Ticonderoga ; authorized him to appoint two 
field officers, captains, etc., and to dismiss them when he 
thought proper, and ordered tlie Committee of Supplies to 
furnish him with ten horses, to be employed on a special service. 
On the third, they commissioned him " Colonel and Com- 
mander-in-Chief over a bod^^ of men, not exceeding four hun- 
dred, to proceed with all expedition to tlie western parts of this 
and the neighboring colonies, where you are directed to enlist 
those men, and, with them, fortliwith to march to the fort at 
Ticonderoga, and use your best endeavors to reduce the same," 
etc.'"'^ 

It is obvious from this action of the Committee, that if 
Arnold suspected chat an expedition was already on foot for 
the capture of this fort, he did not communicate his suspicions 
to the Committee. Their action looks to tlie raising of a force 
in western Massachusetts, the appointment of its officers, and 
the furnishing of its supplies. Nothing was further from the 
Committee's intention, than to give him the command of a 
force already raised, or to be raised, in another State, over 
which Massachusetts had no jurisdiction. 

It has been commonly supposed that Arnold undertook, in 
good faith, to execute the instructions of the Committee ; that 
he went to Berkshire, the western county of Massachusetts, 
and commenced his enlistments ; but finding that an expedition 
had already started, left others to complete the work, and, him- 
self, hurried on until he overtook the party at Castleton. 



<^2) Forces' Acchives, 4tli S., V. II., p. 750, 751. 



54 

This, I tliiiik, is an incorrect conclusion. There is no evi- 
dence thai he ever raised, or undertook to raise a man ! 
What he did do will be hereafter shown. 

The distance from Cambridge to Rupert, Vermont, which 
he reached on the 8th of May, l)y the most direct route, was 
about one hundred and seventy-five miles. If he left Gam- 
bridge the day after liis commisson bears date, his movements 
must have been undelajed, if lie readied Rupert b}^ the 8th. 
That he could have gone by the way of Pittsfield, stopping 
long enough to make arrangements for raising men, is highly 
improbable, for that would have added seventy-five miles to the 
length of his journey. If he went to western Massachusetts, 
he would certainly have gone to Pittsfield, for that was the 
principal town, and the headquarters of Colonel Easton's 
regiment. That he did not go there, is shown, I tliink, hy the 
letter of the Rev. Thomas Allen to General Pomeroy, wlio, 
writing from Pittsfield on the 9th, the day after Arnold reached 
Castleton, says : " Since I wrote the last paragraph, an express 
has arrived from B. Arnold, Commander of the forces against 
Ticonderoga, for recruits." '"^ Mr. Allen was one of the most 
active of the friends of liberty in Pittsfield. It is impossible 
that Arnold should liave been in his town, enlisting men, three 
days before, without his knowledge. 

Arnold's letter from Rupert, Vt., of May 8th, is directed to 
the gentlemen in the southern towns, and urges them to exert 
themselves, and to send forward as many men as they can possi- 
bly spare " to join the army here" It contains directions about 
their provisions, ammunition and blankets ; states their wages, 
which he engages " to see paid ; " and describes the number of 
men at the fort, and states wliat he desires to accomplis]).'"* 
It is precisely such a letter as lie would have written if he had 
not been to Pittsfield before, and states the facts which he 

<") App., No. 19. -ii) App., No. 20. 



55 

would have certainly communicated in person, if he had had 
the opportmiitj. The expression, " Commander of the forces," 
is the same totidem verbis with that used by Mr. Allen in his 
letter from Pittsfield, and renders it highly probable that this 
letter was brought by the express to which the Kev, Thomas 
Allen refers, as having arrived on the 9th from " B. Arnold, 
Commander of the forces," etc. 

In view of these facts, in connection with Arnold's perti- 
nacious repetition of his claim to the command, before and 
after the capture, his conduct may be more reasonally accounted 
for in another way. He suspected, perhaps knew, that Parsons 
would go to Hartford and get up the expedition. If Parsons 
intended to do what he did a few hours later, his purpose was 
formed before, or during, his interview with Arnold, and, as 
the latter was on his way to Cambridge, there was no reason 
why Parsons should conceal his purpose. Arnold also knew 
that secrecy would induce Parsons not to make his object 
known to the Assembly of Connecticut; that he would, there- 
fore, have no cominission from that body, and, upon the Grants, 
there was no recognized authority which could commission any- 
body. Arnold's plan to secure command of the expedition, 
and, in the event of success, the honor of the capture, only re- 
quired a commission, as color of authority. Arrived at Cam- 
bridge, he applied to the Committee of Safety, represented the 
value of the fort, and the ease with which it could be taken ; 
and the Committee, not aware that an expedition was on foot, 
having use at home for the forces already raised, readily com- 
missioned him, on condition that he should raise his own men. 
Such a commission, Arnold tliought, would serve his purpose, 
and, having obtained it, he pushed straight for the fort by the 
shortest and quickest route, sending an express to western 
Massachusetts, to enlist men. He knew that no olSicer in the 
party had any regular commission ; if he could overtake it be- 



56 

fore the capture, he expected a ready suhmiBSioii. Otliers 
would have the labor, he tlie honor of the enterprise. Tliis 
view explains liis angry disappointment at the stern refusal 
which met his assertion of command, and his repeated claim 
that he alone had any legal authority. It is also contirmcd by 
the fact, that not a man raised under Arnold's authority reached 
the fort until the 18th, as I sliall show hereafter. If he began 
to raise recruits as early as t]ie 6th or 7th of May, wlien so 
much depended upon expedition, some of them could ]uive 
reached the fort in less than a week, with no obstructions in 
their way, if Ethan Allen could raise his army, march it about 
the same distance, gather up the scattered boats, cross the lake 
and capture Ticonderoga in less than five days. 

The first document upon whicli Arnold's claim of actual 
command rests, is his letter to the Massachusetts Committee, 
dated May lltli, the day after tlie fort was taken. '^'' He refers 
in this letter to one written the day before, in which he stated 
that, on his arrival in the vicinity, lie found and joined a party, 
led by Allen, bound on the same errand with himself; that he 
decided not to wait for the arrival of the troops he " had 
engaged on the road ! " That " we had taken the fort, etc.," 
of which he intended to keep possession until further advices. 
He asserts that *■' on and before our taking possession here, I 
had agreed with Colonel Allen to issue further orders jointly, 
until I could raise a sufficient number of men to reheve his 
"people, since which, Colonel Allen, -finding he had the ascend- 
ancy over his peojple, positively insisted I should have no com- 
mand." " The power is now taken out of my hands, and I am 
not consulted ; neither have I any voice in any matters." 

This letter was written the day his express for men arrived 
at Pittsfield. He had not, at that time, a man " engaged." 
The Mott Committee were not aware that he had " raised one 

l'5J App., No. 21. 



57 

man ; " and yet he writes as if his army was on the march, and 
its arrival expected in a short time. What had he to do witli 
"deciding" npon the time when the attack should be made ? 
He speaks of those who were to make it as Allen's " people," 
and yet he asserts an agreement made with Allen, " on and 
before taking possession," " to issue further orders jointly." 
Were there two agreements ? Did they refer to orders after 
the fort was in possession of the Vermonters, or j^v'&'oious to 
the capture ? It has been shown that Allen was not present 
when Arnold claimed the command, at Castleton ; that the men 
would have nothing to do with him ; that, when lie pressed his 
claim, they were excited, almost to nuTtiny ; that when he 
followed after Allen, Mott and his Committee pursued him, 
fearing that Allen might yield ; that Allen refused to yield, 
and the men said they would not submit if he did ! Where, 
then, was this agreement made ? Arnold's answer is, " on and 
before the capture." Allen receded from it, " finding he had 
the ascendancy over his men." When was Allen in doubt 
about his relations to his men, and their M'ish that he should 
command them ? Arnold's account will not bear analysis. 
There is an incoherence of time, place and circumstances in 
the statement of this agreement, which proves its own manu- 
facture by a false witness. It is as absurd, considered in connec- 
tion with the admitted facts, as the military novelty of an 
attacking lorce with two commanders, equal in rank and 
autliority. 

The same letter describes tho soldiers, after the capture, as 
being in a state of anarchy — plundering private property, 
threatening desertion, and other enormities— and states that 
one hundred men would easily retake the place. Here, again, 
Arnold is contradicted by the facts. Had tliey been plundered, 
would Delaplace and his men have kept silence ? In all their 
complaints, and they made many, there is no word of com- 



58 

plaint against Allen and his men. "With a single exception 
Arnold is the only witness on t is point, and tlie exception only 
proves that Arnold impressed one man, twenty days after the 
captnre, with the idea that, but for Arnold, " people would 
have been plundered of their private property," Thci'e was 
no private property, except such as may have belonged to the 
inmates of the fort. 

One statement in this letter is so palpably nntrne, that it is 
difficult to conceive why even Arnold should have made it. 
He avers that the party " I advised were gone to Crown Point, 
are returned," and that expedition " is entirely laid aside." 
At the moment that letter was written, Crown Point was 
actually in Warner's possession.^*^^ Arnold probably knew 
the fact of its capture. He must have known that Warner and 
his party had gone to take it, and he knew he was penning a 
falsehood when he wrote that the expedition was, laid aside. 
He admits that Allen is a proper man to head " his own wild 
people," but insists that he is ignorant of military science. 
His dissatisfaction is universal. Although the power was taken 
out of his hands, and he had " no voice iii any tnatters^'' he 
" is determined to insist on his rights, and remain here against 
all opposition," as he "is the only person who has been legally 
authorized to take possession of this place." This expression 
confirms the committee's account, that he persisted in his claim 
to the command after he was repudiated by the entire party. 
Were there no other evidence than the statements of this 
angry letter, all tair men would pronoun(;e Arnold's claim to 
participate in tlie command, as untrue as, in view of the facts, 
it was improbable. 

On tlie 1-ith of May, Arnold again wrote tlie same Com- 
mittee.'^'^' This letter recounts tlie insults he had suifered in 
the public service ; declares that he has about one hundred 

<«' App. No. 22. (^7/ See App. No. 23. 



59 

men, and is expecting more ; that the dispute between himself 
and Allen is subsiding ; but contains no other reference to the 
subject of command. The material facts of this letter are all 
untrue. Arnold says : " I ordered ajjartyto Skenenboroxigh^ 
to take Major Skene, who have made him prisoner, and 
seized a small schooner, which has just arrived hereP 
Skene was taken on the 9th of May, the day before the fort 
was captured. The capturing party, under Herrick, had been 
sent from Castleton before Arnold i-eached there. Two days 
before the date of this letter, Allen had sent Skene and Dela- 
place to Hartford, as prisoners of war. And yet Arnold writes, 
" /ordered the party," etc. And this statement convicts him 
of another falsehood. His express had reached Pittsfield on 
the 9th. Eighteen men each, were drafted from some of the com- 
panies of Colonel Easton's regiment, &.n^ fifty men thus raised, 
under Captains Brown and Oswald, arrived at Skenesborough 
on the 11th. They left in the schooner which Herrick had 
captured, and reached Ticonderoga on the 14th. They were 
the iirst men who came to Arnold, and they were only fifty in 
number, as Arnold himself states in his next letter of May 
19th. He thus doubles their number, and reports to his 
superiors that he had originated the plan of capturing Skenes- 
borough, and despatched tlie party, which had just returned, 
after successfully executing his plan. That the vessel arrived, 
is the only element of truth in the statement. The men who 
came on her had not been enlisted when Skenesborough was 
captured. 

Arnold's next letter is dated at Crown Point, on the 19th of 
May. It expresses his fears " tliat some persons might attempt 
to injure him in the esteem of Congress," and his desire to be 
" superseded." It has no otlier reference to the main question. 
He announces the arrival of Brown and Oswald with Jifty 
men, and repeats the false statement that they hud taken pos- 



60 

session of the schoonor, at Skenesboro'. He also announces 
the capture of the royal sloop, at St. Joliiis, and Allen's depar- 
ture for Canada.'^*' 

The rro\incial Congress of Massachusetts gave little counten- 
ance to Arnold's assumptions. On the 16th of May, the Com- 
mittee of Correspondence for Connecticut liad \vritten to the 
Massachusetts Congress, that tlie expedition had been set on 
foot by some private gentlemen of the former colon}', who had 
made the capture before the Massachusetts party came up. 
Referring to the question of command 'svliich liad arisen, the 
letter intinuited that this, and all similar expeditions, should be 
regarded as undertaken for tlic common bcnetit of all the 
colonies, and that tlie present was no time to dispute about 
precedency.'"' 

The action of Massachusetts upon the subject is consistent 
with her record. On the 17th of May, her Provincial Con- 
gress received the first information of the capture of Ticon- 
deroga, not from Arnold, but from Colonel Allen and Edward 
Mott — the officer in command, and the chairman of the com- 
mittee under whom he acted. Nor is this all. The letters 
containing the information were sent by Colonel Easton, who, 
it was stated in Allen's letter, commanded the Massachusetts 
men. Upon Easton's arrival with the letters, the Congress 
api)ointed one committee to i-eport on tlie subject of the cap- 
ture, and another to introduce Colonel Easton to the House, 
"to give a nan-ative of tliat transaction, and that each member 
have liberty to ask him any questions." The report of the 
committee was presented on the same day ; it proposed a letter 
to Connecticut, and a preamble and resolution in the following 
terms : 

" The Congress having received authentic intelligence that 
tlie fort at Ticonderoga is surrendered into the hands of 

t<8j Force lb., p. 646. <"' Force lb., p. 618. 



61 

Colonel Ethan Allen and others, together witli tlic artillery 
and tlie artillery stores, anunnnition, etc., thereunto belong^irg, 
for the benefit of these colonies, occasioned by the intrepid 
valor of a number of men under the command of the said 
Colonel Allen^ Colonel Easton, of the Massachusetts^ and 
others ; and by the advice and direction of tlie Committee for 
that Expedition, the said Colonel Allen is to remain in posses- 
sion of the same, and its dependencies, until further orders. 

" Resolved, Tliat this Congress do highly approve of the 
same ; and tlie General Assembly of the Colony of Connecti- 
cut are hereby desired to give directions relative to garrisoning 
and maintaining the same for the future, until the advice of 
the Continental Congress can be had in that behalf." 

There was an additional resolution, asking Connecticut to 
give orders for the removal of some of the cannon to Massa- 
chusetts.''"' 

It is submitted to the judgment of just men, whether tiiis 
official action of the Congress of Massachusetts is not decisive 
against the claims now made in Arnold's behalf. Tliis was the 
Congress to which Arnold shoidd have officially reported the 
capture, if he made it ; for he was acting under its authority, 
if he acted at all. He not only allows Allen to make this 
official report, and transmit it by Easton, but he contents him- 
self with a complaining letter, upon general topics, to the 
Committee of Safety, consisting of a few members, and never 
reports the capture to the Congress. And this Congress, 
having Easton, the Colonel of one of their own regiments, the 
third in rank at Ticonderoga, before it, to give a narrative of 
the whole transaction, with liberty to each member to question 
him — upon the report of a special committee to consider the 
whole subject — adopts a resolution, which spreads upon its 
records the facts that the expedition was under the orders of a 



i'OJ See Journals, Prov. Con. of Mass., for May 17, 1775. 



62 

committee; tliat Allen was in command, and that the fort was 
surrendered to liim ; tliat lie is to remain in possession, and, 
finally, approving of the whole proceeding, without making 
any reference, express or implied, to the man whom it is now 
claimed captured this fort under the authority of the very 
body which thus ignored him and his pretensions. 

In the letter to Connecticut, Arnold is mentioned in a man- 
ner which shows the anxiety of the Congress to be rid of him 
as quietly as possible. Tliey suggest that Arnold should be 
sent to Massachusetts with some of the cannon, " with all pos- 
sible haste," as "a means of settling any disputes which may 
have arisen between him and some other oficersP This is 
the only reference to Arnold in the proceedings of the Con- 
gress/^'^ 

The Committee of Safety, on the 22d of May, referred 
Arnold's letter, of the 11th, to the Congress, as relating to a 
subject beyond its own control. That body, on the same day, 
addressed a letter to Arnold, acknowledging the receipt of his, 
and applauding " the conduct of the troops ! " It also 
" thanks liim for his exertions in the cause," encloses a copy of 
the letter to Connecticut, and then proceeds to dispose of the 
whole subject, so far as Massacdiusetts was concerned, by the 
statement that^ " as the aifairs of that expedition began in the 
Colony of Connecticut, and the cause bei'ng common to us all, 
we have already Avrote to the General Assembly of that Colony 
to take the whole matter, respecting the same, under their 
care and direction^'' etc.'^^' 

This letter was a practical revocation of any authority which 
Massachusetts had conferred upon Arnold, and it was clearly 
his duty to have returned to the army at Cambridge ; or to 
have sought his future directions from Connecticut. He did 
neither ; but remained at Crown Point, where all his subse- 

(61) Force^ 807. See App. No. 24. tssi porce I., p. 639. 



63 

qnent letters are dated. In a letter of May 23d, to the Com- 
mittee of Safety, he calls for money and provisions, and 
indulges in ill-concealed exultation over Allen's failure to take 
Montreal/'^' Without waiting for any orders or permission 
from either Connecticut or New York to do so, on the 26th of 
May, he announces his purpose to send some of the captured 
cannon to Massachusetts. This lawless proceeding, intimated 
in a previous letter, called forth an apology from Massachusetts 
to New York, and an expression of the hope that it would be 
overlooked as a mistake made " in the hurry and confusion of 
war." '''' 

Immediately after the capture of Tioonderoga, Allen had 
undertaken to impress upon the Colonies the importance of 
attacking the British forces in Canada, by the way of Lake 
Champlain. Day after day he despatched letters to the Con- 
tinental, as well as the Provincial Congresses, and their influ- 
ential members, in which he demonstrated the feasibility of the 
enterprise, which he declared he could accomplish with fifteen 
hundred men. But the Colonies were not yet ripe for measures 
of invasion. Instead of attacking Canada, they doubted 
whether they should hold Ticonderoga, which, in Allen's 
opinion, it would be ruinous to the popular cause to abandon. 
His efforts, ably seconded by Colonel Easton,'^^' finally induced 
the leading patriots in Connecticut and Massachusetts to concur 
in the propriety of retaining the forts, and some of them sup- 
ported his proposed inva&ion of Canada. Arnold, of course, 
opposed whatever Allen approved. He ridiculed Allen's pro- 
posed attack upon Montreal, and continued his exertions to 
send the cannon to Massachusetts. The Congress of that State, 
believing itself responsible for Arnold's acts, were constantly 
sending letters of excuse and apology for them to tlie Conti- 

<53) Force, p. 693. («) Force, p. 715. 

155] gee Easton's letter to Prov. Con. of Mass. Force's Archives, 919. 



64 

ncntal Congress and tlieir sister colonies/'^^ But, while they 
were thus exerting tliemselves to excuse him, he did not hesi- 
tate to open connnnnication for himself Nvith all the sources of 
power. lie was in frecpient correspondence with the Conti- 
nental, as well as the Congresses of Connecticut and New York, 
and, in tlie early part of June, it is dithcult to determine to 
which of these bodies, if to eitlier, lie held himself responsible. 
The Congress of Massachusetts was well informed of Arnold's 
movements, and, before the end of May, had become convinced 
of the necessity of asserting an absolute control over his law- 
less imprudence. To avoid doing him any injustice, they 
determined to examine into his conduct, and, in the meantime, 
not to excuse his furtlier rashness, by any sudden withdrawal 
of their contidence. Witli tliis view they addressed him a 
letter on the 27th of May, assuring him that they would re- 
ceive no impressions to his disadvantage, until they had given 
him an opportunity to vindicate his conduct ; ^^'' and, on the 
same day, despatched Colonel Joseph Henshaw, to Hartford, 
with instructions, if Connecticut had made provision for 
garrisoning Ticonderoga, to proceed to that place, and order 
Arnold to return to Massachusetts, and settle his accounts and 
be discharged. Of this resolution the Congress advised Arnold 
in their letter of the same date. Upon reaching Hartford, 
Colonel Hensliaw learned that Connecticut liad already sent 
Colonel Hinman, with a well appointed force of a thousand 
men, to Ticonderoga, to take the command, and hold the place 
until New York was prepared to relieve them. Colonel Hen- 
shaw, instead of proceeding to Ticonderoga himself, despatched 
a letter by special express to Arnold, informing him of Colonel 
Hinman's departure, and that it was the expectation of the 
Massachusetts Congress that he should assume the command 
upon his arrival, and, to leave no question of authority open, 



(58) See Letter of Mass. Cong, to Conn. Force, 722. l"] force, 723. 



65 

and no excuse for Arnold's attempting to retain the command, 
the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, which had originally 
commissond Arnold, loithout the knowledge of the Congress, 
on the 28th of May, wrote him that the Congress had now 
taken up the matter, and given the necessary orders respecting 
the acquisition of these forts. As if in anticipation of Arnold's 
disobedience, the letter adds, " it becomes your duty, and is 
our requirement, that you conform yourself to such advice 
and orders as you shall, from time to time, receive from that 
body." '^^1 

Arnold had no intention of surrendering his authority, 
although directed to do so, both by Connecticut and Massa- 
chusetts. As soon as he received information of Colonel Hin- 
man's approach, he became " positive " that an invasion of 
Canada ought to be attempted, and that he could easily take 
Montreal and Quebec. Pie, therefore, proposed to the Conti- 
nental Congress that, " to give satisfaction to the different 
colonies," Colonel Hinman's regiment should form part of an 
army of two thousand men, which, under his command, should 
invade the Canadian Provinces. He expressed the emphatic 
wish that this army should include " no Oreen Mountain 
BoysT^ Tliis letter he despatched to Philadelphia by one of 
his captains, as a special express. 

Just at this time the colonies, while opposed to the invasion 
of Canada, had become fully awakened to the vital importance of 
holding Ticonderoga at all hazards. A full month had elapsed 
after the capture before they became aware of the value, in a 
military sense, of the position, which was clear to Allen before 
its seizure was attempted. The feeling of the leading patriots 
on the subject is well expressed in a letter to General Warren, 
written from JSTorthampton by Joseph Hawley, on the 9th of 
June.^^'* Speaking of Ticonderoga, he says : " I am still in 

158) Force, 723-727. <5») Force, 944. 

5 



6G 

agonies for the greatest possible despatcli to secure that pass." 
He points out tliat it is the spot where the greatest mischief to 
the colonies " may be withstood and resisted ; but, if that is 
relinquished or taken from us, desolation must come in upon 
us like a flood." "The design of seizing tliat fort was glori- 
ously conceived ; but to what purpose did our forces light there, 
if they are now to fly away ? " In these and like emphatic 
terms, he urged that Ticonderoga should be strengthened with- 
out the loss of a day. Its importance was beginning to be 
understood ; none knew it better than Arnold, and the idea of 
losing its command at such a time was resisted by all the sel- 
fish impulses of his soul. 

The report of Colonel Henshaw to the Massachusetts Con- 
gress, early in June, had shown to that body the propriety of 
allowing Connecticut to appoint the commander-in-chief of 
Ticonderoga, and the necessity of settling all questions of pre- 
cedence, so far as Arnold was concerned. His purpose to re- 
sist his own removal had already been foreshadowed, though it 
■was not believed he would proceed to the extremity of actual 
mutiny. There was evidence enough, however, to induce that 
Congress to inform itself tlioroughly of tlie condition of affairs 
upon this frontier. It had already called upon its Committee 
of Safety for copies of Arnold's commission; the papers re- 
lating to his appointment ; the engagements of the Committee 
to him ; the authority they iiad conferred upon liim, and 
" everythino- necessar}^ to give the Congress a full understand- 
ing of the relation Colonel Arnold then stood in to the 
Colony." ^^°^ On the 12th of June, it resolved to appoint tliree 
persons to repair to Ticonderoga, examine into the state of 
afiairs there, and act in such a manner as the Congress should 
direct. The importance of this action, in tlie opinion of the 
Cono-ress, is shown by the fact that the committee, which con- 

m Force, 716. 



67 

sisted of Walter Spooner, Jedediah Foster and James Sullivan, 
were elected by ballot, and another committee was appointed 
to prepare their instructions. These instructions were pre- 
sented to the Congress, and approved on the 13th, and given 
to the committee on the 14th of June. The}'^ were minute and 
specific, and covered the whole subject. They directed the 
committee to retain Arnold in tlie service only in case he was 
willing to serve at one or both of the posts, under the com- 
mand of such chief officer as Connecticut might appoint, and, 
in that event, they were to continue him in commission, if they 
should judge it best " for the general service and safety," after 
having made themselves " fully acquainted with the spirit, 
capacity and conduct of said Arnold." They were fully em- 
powered to discharge him, and, in that event, were to direct 
liim to return to the colony and settle his accounts. They were 
also directed to inform themselves thoroughly of the past trans- 
actions in this quarter, and with every fact which would enable 
them to advise the Congress intelligently ; and to act for the 
common interest of the colonies.*"^ 

These instructions invested the committee with all the powers 
which the Congress itself could have exercised, and they were 
limited in their action only, by their own discretion. The 
committee immediately departed upon their mission, the history 
of which is given in their report on the 6th of the following 
July, and the various letters written by themselves g-nd others 
in the intervening period. 

Upon reaching Ticonderoga, the committee found a remark- 
able condition of afiairs. Colonel Hinman, with his regiment, 
had arrived ; but, instead of turning over the command, Arnold 
had transferred it to Captain Herrick, from whom Colonel 
Hinman's men were obliged to take then- orders, or were not 
suffered to pass to and from the garrison. The committee 

<6i) See Proc. Prov. Con. of Mass., Juue 13, 1775, 



68 

entered upon their investigations, determined to inform them- 
selves of all the facts before taking any active measures. Their 
report sheds liglit upon the capture, and confirms the correct- 
ness of Allen's account. This report ouglit to be accepted as 
full proof of the facts it contains, for it comprises the con- 
clusions of an impartial committee of the body under which 
Arnold claimed to have acted, made upon a thorough examin- 
ation of the facts, within a month after the events transpired. 
The committee had copies of Arnold's commission and instruc- 
tions. They state that they " informed themselves, as fully as 
they were able, in what manner he had executed his said com- 
mission and instructions, and find that he was with Colonel 
Allen and others at the time the fort was reduced, hut do not 
find that he had any men under his command at the time of 
the reduction of these fortresses .'" After the lapse of nearly 
a hundred years, can Arnold's admirers hope successfully to 
contradict this quasi judicial determination of the question 
which the committee had undertaken to set at rest forever ! '**' 

Some of the experiences of the committee it would have 
been indiscreet further to publish to the enemy, and they must 
be sought elsewhere than in their report. But the facts were 
recorded at the time by men of unimpeachable veracity. The 
report states that Arnold did possess himself of the sloop on 
the lake, at St. Johns, and that the committee found him 
" claiming the command of said sloop and a schooner, wliich 
is said to be the property of Major Skene ; and also all the 
posts and fortresses at the south end of Lake Champlain and 
Lake George, although Colonel Hinman was at Ticonderoga, 
with near a thousand men under his command at tlie several 
posts." 

Arnold was at Crown Point, some twelve miles from Ticon- 
deroga, when the committee arrived ; and, without interfering 

r^JSee Report of this Committee. Force, 1596. 



69 

with affairs at the latter place, the committee passed on to the 
former, where the vessels were. Arnold was prepared for 
their reception, and had sent a strong force on board the 
vessels. The committee informed him of tlieir commission, 
and, at his request, gave him a copy of their instructions, upon 
reading which, " he seemed greatly disconcerted." His con- 
clusion was no sudden outburst of anger. It was taken " after 
some time contemplating upon the matter ; " and after the 
committee had informed him, in WTiting, that it was the expec- 
tation of the Congress of Massachusetts, that the officer in 
command of the Continental forces should command the posts, 
and that the committee required him to conform to the instruc- 
tions of the Congress, and deliver the command to the proper 
Connecticut officer. He then peremptorily refused to comply 
with the instructions, and declared that " he would not be 
second in command to any person whomsoever." It is unim 
portant whether the committee thereupon discharged him from 
the service, as stated by Mott, or he resigned his commission 
in the impudent letter of June 24th, which he sent to the com- 
mittee.*"' 

The result was a viutiny ! for which Arnold was responsi- 
ble as the chief instigator. According to Mott's statement, 
the committee desired the privilege of speaking with Arnold's 
men, but were not permitted to do so. Arnold and a portion 
of his men retired on board the vessels, and threatened to sail 
to St. Johns and deliver themselves up to the enemy. He states 
that Arnold had disbanded all the men but those on 1)oard the 
vessels, which had drawn off into the lake ; that the committee 
left the post in a state of anarchy; that they were threatened 
and ill-treated while there, and when they came away, were 
actually fired ujpon with swivels and small arms by Arnold's 
people. 

(=3) See App., No. 25. 



70 

Mott thereupon obtained permission from Colonel Hinman 
to proceed from Ticonderoga to Crown Point, and, if possible, 
board the vessels. lie was accompanied by Colonel Snllivan, 
a member of the committee, Lieutenant Halsey, and a Mr. 
Duer, one of the civil appointees of New York, for the county 
of Charlotte, who was very influential in composing the diffi- 
culty. They got on board the vessels about eleven o'clock the 
next morning. Arnold separated the party, placing some of 
the members on each vessel, under guards with fixed bayonets, 
and so kept them until evening, wlien they were permitted to 
return. They found opportunities, how^ever, to converse with 
the men, and convinced some of them of their error, who 
declared that they had been deceived by Arnold. Colonel 
Sullivan was grossly insulted while on board the vessels, especi- 
ally by Brown, one of Arnold's captains. The party returned 
to Ticonderoga, whence Colonel Hinman sent a detachment 
back to Crown Point, which succeeded, the next day, in gain- 
ing possession of the vessels, 

On the 24th, Arnold made a written resignation of his com- 
mission, and the committee, with the aid of Colonel Hinman, 
John Brown, Surgeon Jonas Fay, and others, succeeded in 
restoring the order and discipline of the two posts, and in 
arranging all the difficulties with the men. Their judicious 
conduct rescued the country from a peril almost as fearful as 
that in which Arnold afterwards involved it on the banks of 
the Hudson. It seems almost inconceivable how any officer of 
the Revolutionary army could have trusted Arnold after this 
conclusive proof of his utter selfishness and want of patriotism. 
Had he carried out his threat of delivering up the vessels, and 
with them the command of the lake to the enemy, the conse- 
quences must have been disastrous, if not fatal, to the cause 
of popular liberty.'"^ 



") Force, 1591, 96. 



71 

Eeturning now to Arnold's own account of affiairs in this 
vicinity, which has been somewhat anticipated in giving a con- 
nected relation of the action of Massacliusetts in the premises, 
we find his next letter dated on the 23d of May, at Crown 
Point, and directed to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety/"** 
It is unimportant, except for its ungenerous remarks upon the 
failure of Allen's attempt upon St. Johns. On the 26th, he 
advises the same committee of his purpose to send some of the 
captured guns to Massachusetts as soon as possible. It is in 
his letter of May 29th, to the Continental Congress, that he 
undertakes to give the second version of his participation in 
the command at the time of the capture.^'*' 

Arnold could never tell the story of his command twice 
alike. Three weeks before, he had written, " I had agreed 
with Colonel Allen to issue further orders jointly." Now he 
says, that near the fort, he " met one Colonel Allen, with about 
one hundred men, raised at the instance of some gentlemen 
from Connecticut^ who agreed that we should take a joint 
command." He adds, " some dispute arising between Colonel 
Allen and myself, prevented my carrying my orders into execu- 
tion." The " gentlemen from Connecticut " have recorded 
their emphatic contradiction of the statements of this letter. 

The third and concluding version of the joint command, 
although nominally the work of a third person, bears strong 
evidence that it was inspired by Arnold himself, the confessed 
author of the two others. In Thomas' " Oracle of Liberty," 
of May 24th, an account of the capttire, given by Colonel 
Easton, had been publislied, which assigned the command to 
Allen, gave Easton a conspicuous position in the seizure, but 
made no mention of Arnold. It was contradicted in Holt's 
" New York Journal," of June 25th, by a writer under the 
pseudonym of " Veritas," who professed to have been one of 

(65) Force, 693. Force, 734. 



72 

the attacking party, and an eye-witness of the capture. Accord- 
ing to " Veritas," the Connecticut Committee wore joined by 
Easton, after their arrival upon the Grants, tliongh it is well 
known that Easton came with the committee from Pittsfield. 
He states that Arnold, having concerted a similar plan, " pro- 
ceeded to the party under the command of Colonel Allen," 
and that " when Colonel Arnold made known his commission, 
etc., it was voted hy the ojjicers present that he should take a 
joint command with Colonel Allen (Colonel Easton not presum- 
ing to take any command)." According to Veritas, the Green 
Mountain Boys were very unwilling to cross the lake ; but 
" Colonel Arnold, with much difficulty, persuaded about forty " 
of them to do so ! When they got over, these still wished to 
await the arrival of the rest of the party, but "Arnold urged 
to storm the fort immediately, declaring he would enter it alone 
if no man had courage enough to follow him ! " He says that 
Arnold was the first to enter the fort, Allen being about five 
yards behind him ; that Arnold demanded the surrender — 
Easton being hid away in an old barrack, under pretence of 
drying his gun. He also relates that he had the pleasure of 
seeing Easton heartily kicked by Arnold," etc. 

Arnold has now exj^austed all the sources from which his 
joint command could be derived, save one. First, he has it 
by an agreement with Allen himself; next, by an agreement 
with the Connecticut Committee, and, thirdly, by a vote of the 
officers present. Had he given a fourth account, he would 
probably have secured it from the vote of the men, who pro- 
posed to disband upon the suggestion that they were to be 
placed under his authority. 

The remarkable effusion of " Veritas " is followed in Force's 
Archives'*^* by three documents, M'hich clearly evince the same 
paternity. One of them, directed to " The Printer," refers to 

«^) Force, 1085, 90. 



73 

an address " from the inhabitants on Lake Champlain, to the 
worthy Colonel Arnold, wlio, on the first alarm of the ravage 
and bloodshed committed by the Ministerial troops at Lexing- 
ton, marched with his company of cadets, from New Haven, 
to the assistance of his bleeding countrymen." It states that 
on the march he concerted the plan for the reduction of Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point, and the Provincial Congress and 
Committee of Safety approving of his plan, and confiding in 
his judgment and fidelit}'', commissioned him to reduce the 
same, which, " by his vigilence and prudence he soon effected; " 
that, without the loss of one man, he obtained the command of 
an extent of country one hundred and sixty miles in length, 
which cost the British nation two millions of money and two 
campaigns," etc., etc. The writer consoles himself for the loss 
of a Warren, and many other worthy men, by the reflection 
that an Arnold is yet preserved, "who, though enemies mis- 
represent his conduct, will yet be found to merit the highest 
approbation." 

The address to Arnold is still more fulsome and adulatory. 
It purports to have been signed by the principal inhabitants on 
the lake, in behalf of themselves and six hundred families con- 
tiguous thereto, who, deeply impressed with a sense of his 
merit, and their weighty obligations to him, testify their grati- 
tude and thankfulness for his important conquests, his benevo- 
lence to the inhabitants, his tenderness to the prisoners, his 
humane and polite manner, which have shown a bright example 
" of that elevation and generosity of soul, which nothing less 
than real magnaminity and innate virtue could inspire." 
After a column of this material, they conclude by expressing 
their sorrow for his approaching removal, and lamenting their 
situation at the thoughts of losing him. The receipt of this 
document is acknowledged by a note from Arnold, printed in 
the same connection. 



74: 

There can be no necessity for wasting time in the refutation 
of these documents addressed to, or concerning, a man who at 
that date was actually engaged in corrupting his men, and 
creating a mutiny. That Arnold supervised, if he did not 
dictate them, is as certain as if they appeared over his own 
signature. Of course the address is not signed ; the name is 
not given of one of the principal inhabitants, or six hundred 
ftimilies. There were not that number -within ten miles of 
Lake Champlain, and the few settlers along the lake lield 
Arnold in detestation. Who but Arnold, or his valet, could 
have given that minute account of his actions, and even his 
thoughts, all the way from Cambridge to Castleton ? Wlio 
but he, in the assaulting part}', would have written such an 
account ? Such trash is only valuable to enable us to form an 
estimate of the man — proud, arrogant, selfish, and so conceited 
that he thought all the work! admired him. These documents 
proclaim their authorship, and refute themselves. They are 
contradicted by every witness, every known fact, and every 
circumstance in every important particular. 

The advocates of Arnold seek to strengthen their case by 
asserting that he remained here in command after Allen had 
withdrawn, and his party had returned to their homes. My 
limits will not allow me to pursue the history into further 
details. I leave the subject with this statement : Arnold was 
4iever in conniiand of Ticonderoga during this campaign. 
Immediately after the capture, he left Ticonderoga, wliere he 
was hated by the men, and an annoj^ance to the officers, and 
went to Crown Point, where Allen and Warner were content 
that he should exercise his brief authority. Whatever he did, 
was done there, and there the Massachusetts Committee found 
him, when they finally dismissed him from the service. 

Benedict Arnold possessed few of the qualities of which 
heroes are made. The native geujiosity of his countrymen 



75 

has induced them to give him more credit than he ever deserved 
for his service in the cause of popular liberty, and has led some 
of them to attempt excuses for liis crimes. He has even been 
represented as the victim of misfortune, slowly driven to treason 
by the consciousness of unrequited merit, and the conviction 
that inferior men were preferred before him. The effort to 
make him the hero of Ticonderoga is of recent origin, and 
was never undertaken while the Mntnesses were living, and 
their evidence fresh in the public mind. The desire of the 
American people not to deal unjustly with a great criminal has 
given it some currency. The. facts of his life, when thorougly 
comprehended, assign him his true place in history — among 
the most dangerous of unprincipled men. They disclose a 
character in which selfishness was the controlling element. It 
gave impulse to every thought of his mind ; it directed every 
action of his body. It was displayed in the precocity of a 
wicked childhood; even then he was wayward and vicious, 
seeking his keenest pleasures in the torture and destruction of 
dumb, defenseless animals. As he grew older, his corrupted 
tastes and evil habits destroyed the happiness of an excellent 
mother ; and an attempt to murder, while yet a boy, sufficed 
to cloud a sister's whole life with sorrow. Tlie son of an ob- 
scure sea-faring man, he varied the monotony of his youthful 
experiences by voyages to the West Indies, horse trading in 
Canada, fighting a duel, and enlistments in and desertiong 
from the service. Such activity in evil courses indicated ability, 
if he could be subjected to restraint, and friends were found 
who furnished capital to establish him in business, in the hope 
that he would settle down and abandon his wicked ways. The 
news of Lexington found him a small druggist, and tlie captain 
of a volunteer company in New Haven. Love of excitement, 
and a passion for destructiveness, more than any motive of 
patriotism, led him to join the army. How he came to this 



76 

frontier we have already seen. Here, lie claimed that his early 
experiences had given liiin a knoMlcdge of naval afi'airs ; and, 
with the schooner wln"ch Ilerrick had captured from Major 
Skene, and some smaller craft, he fitted out a little fleet, and 
with it took the British vessels on the lake. Of that force he 
was the real commander, and of none otlier. His teeming 
brain daily gave hirth to some rash and dangerous project, by 
which his own advancement was to be promoted. He divided 
men into two parties, — his friends, who admired his greatness, 
and his enemies, who were envious of his fame, and were con- 
stantly engaged in efforts to undermine and desti-oy him. He 
secured his commission, confident that it Mould give him the 
chief command in this quarter, and In's failure to secure it filled 
him with angry disappointment. He was unpopular with the 
soldiers, feared by his inferiors, despised by all. We have seen 
how his rashness involved the colonies in serious ditficulties, and 
how prudently Massachusetts undertook to control him, and 
make him useful to the country, while he was impressing all 
who knew him with what Captain Mott calls " his extraordinary 
ill conduct." Impatient under investigation, maddened that 
his authority should be questioned, unable to dispose of Colonel 
Hinman, he was ready, when the Massachusetts Committee 
reached Ticonderoga, to scout their authority and defy their 
power. When peremptorily ordered to turn over his command, 
this model patriot and military leader, witli sucli of his men as 
he could control, broke into open mutiny, retired on board the 
vessels, and threatened to desert and deliver them up to the 
enemy. He even attempted the lives of the comtnittee, after 
he had subjected them to threats and imprisonment. Finally, 
having quarrelled with liis l)rot]ier officers, abandoned b}' his 
soldiers, unable longer to resist the committee, powerless for 
further evil, in disgrace with everybody, he flung up his com- 
mission and vanished from the scene. The war presented no 



77 

parallel instance of treasonable insubordination. Was it 
•strange that Colonel Brown, in the next campaign, and years 
before his greater crime, posted him as a robber of prisoners, 
wlio sm-rendered on the faith of his promises ; a mm-derer of 
defenseless non-combatants, and a traitor ready made when his 
price was tendered ! that he should marry a Tory heiress, 
and enter upon a life of extravagant debauchery, which could 
only be supported by fraud and peculation upon the public 
treasury ; that he was convicted by a court martial, and repri- 
manded by Washington ! that his treason culminated at the 
first favorable opportunity ; and, finally, that his murderous 
ravages in his native and other States, should have shown that 
all the accidents of all the wars on this continent never brought 
to the surface of public life any man so thoroughly depraved 
as he whose name has become a synonj^m for the highest trea- 
son ! True, he fought well at Stillwater, but at that moment 
he was devising plans for revenge upon his associates for fancied 
slights, and plotting new schemes to relieve himself from the 
debts in which his courses had involved him. A few acts of 
bravery, a few spasms of patriotism, scattered like fitful gleams 
through the darkness of a wicked life, instead of excusing his 
treachery, only serve to make it more conspicuous. It is time 
to have done with apologies for the worst man ever born on 
American soil ; with efforts to excite the world's admiration 
for a man who possibly might have been a patriot, if he had 
not been a traitor. It is time to strip from his deformity the 
mantle which a mistaken chai'ity has thrown over it. In the 
world's history tliere have been two conspicuous traitors. But 
there is a choice between them, and one was the better man, — • 
for he repented of his treason, cried out that he liad shed 
innocent blood, threw down his thirty pieces, and went and 
hanged himself ! Tlie other wasted his price upon his vices, 
was pensioned by his purchasers, and went detested and uure- 



78 

pentant to his foreign grave ! He was a l)ad boy and a worse 
man, depraved and unprincipled from his cradle to his latest 
day. His claims to the respect of trne men arc just as good, 
wlien he is selling his country on the Imnks of tlie Hudson, as 
when he is writing false letters from the shores of Lake Cham- 
pluin. 

It is neither my desire nor my purpose to defend Ethan 
Allen. I am not here to set fortli his virtues, or apologise for 
his faults. Tliat there were grave defects in his character is 
neither denied nor sought to be concealed. His generous, 
impulsive nature; his complete self-confidence, which led him to 
believe himself equal to any enterprise ; his intense hatred for 
tyranny and oppression in all their forms, were quahties which 
do not exist in man, except in connection with strong passions, 
and other objectionable elements. He belonged to a class who 
are most popular with those who know them best, and are 
usually misjudged by those who know little of them. For he 
was careless of the opinions of others, and seemed to delight 
in misleading them in their judgment of liimself He despised 
the acts b}^ which popularity is courted ; and those who count 
him a demagogue may be defied to point to a single word he 
ever uttered, a single act he ever performed, merely to gain the 
popular applause. He was of large stature and strong muscle, 
capable of great exertion and endurance, and he feared nothing 
under tlie sun. His education was better than that of the 
average of men in those days, when but little time could be 
spared for instruction, in the severe and universal struggle for 
existence. With proper training, he would have been capable 
of intellectual eminence, for he has left many evidences that 
he was able to seize and present effectually the points in an 
aro-ument. Falsehood and tergiversation were so offensive to 
him, that he would not tolerate them even to promote his own 



79 

interests, and lie detested injustice of ever}'- description with all 
the energy of liis intense organization. Love of liberty was 
the controlling passion of his soul, inspiring everj' impulse, 
directing every action. In the presence of sorrow, he was 
gentle as a woman, and among tlie many traditions concerning 
him which have been preserved, those are most numerous which 
show his effective service in behalf of the poor, the unfortunate 
and the distressed. If his faults were grave, who has the right 
to say that they were not counterbalanced by his virtues ? 

But it is Allen's conduct during the campaign of 1775 that 
we are now considering, and in that, while there is mucli to 
praise, there is little to censure. Called out for a special pur- 
pose, on a moment's warning, witli no preparation for a long 
service, when their w^ork was done, Allen and his men expected 
to return to their homes. They remained here, performing all 
their duties as long as they yvere needed, and until they were 
properly relieved. Allen constantly reported to his superiors, 
and faithfully obeyed their orders. When Colonel Hinman 
reached Ticonderoga with his regiment, he was received cordi- 
ally by Allen, who promptly turned over his command. Con- 
vinced that the Revolution had need of the Green Mountain 
Boys, Allen and "Warner then hurried to Philadelphia, and 
asked from the Continental Congress authority to form them 
into a regiment. " I ask the privilege," Allen had already 
written, " of raising a small regiment of Eangers. It is, truly, 
the first favor I ever asked of the government ; if it be granted, 
I will zealously endeavor to conduct myself for the best good 
of my country." In the presence of that august body, face to 
face with his old enemy, Duane, he told the story of Ticon- 
deroga, and again presented his petition. Tlie leader of a 
people claimed to be in rebellion, opened the doors of the Con- 
gress by his manly appeal. That body resolved to pay the Yer- 
monters for their service here, and granted authority to raise 



80 

a regiment, conditioned npon the approval of New York. With 
the resohition in his hands, authenticated by the signature of 
John Hancock, he returned to New York city, where the Pro- 
vincial Congress was in session. There, was exhibited a scene 
which illustrates the patriotism of the time. To that Congress, 
whose autliority he had so many times defied, and to whose 
constituents he had applied the " beech seal," he proj^oscd to 
bury the old bitter feud beneath the wave of liberty then 
sweeping over the land. In vain the speculators in Vermont 
lands, and their agents, protested. In vain tliey exclaimed 
that he was " a felon, an outlaw with a price upon his head, 
and that it would disgrace the Congress to admit him within 
their doors ! " "I move that Ethan Allen be permitted to 
have an audience at this board ! " exclaims a member, " I 
second the motion ! " shouts Smith, of Duchess, and by a vote 
of two to one, it was (says the record) " ordered that Ethan 
Allen be admitted." And the record continues, " Seth Warner 
was admitted at the same time." ''^' What Allen said, we do 
not know; but we do know that the envoys from the moun- 
tains were heard, and that, at the same setting, the Congress, 
which a year before had proclaimed Allen a traitor, and offered 
a reward to any who would hunt him down, confirmed the 
order of the Continental Congress, and sent Allen to General 
Schuyler, with authority to raise the regiment, whicli should 
elect its own officers, and with directions Avhich secured Schuy- 
ler's co-operation. It did no great harm tliat " the County of 
Albany" (the headquarters of the speculators) " and Mr. John 
DeLancey dissented to the above order and resolve." 

The reaiiment was raised. Then occurred another event which 
brought out the qualities of Allen's character. Remember, 
he liad been the military leader of the Grants from the begin- 
ning ; his energy had overcome all the ol)stacles, and he had 

[881 Force, 1338. 



81 

procured authority to raise the regiment — he should have been 
its colonel. Now, when the election of officers was made, the 
older settlers, distrusting his bold impetuosity, ignored his 
claims, and chose the more cautious Warner in his place. It 
was a cold and cruel neglect, for which there was no excuse. 
He might well be pardoned for having expressed his natural in- 
dignation. Did he resent the neglect, and, like Arnold, threaten 
desertion to the enemy ? No ! He scarcely uttered a word of 
complaint. He knew there was a place for him in the Revo- 
lution — ^if not as an officer, then as a private. " I hope the 
Congress will remember me," he wrote, "for I desire to remain 
in the service," and with all the energy of his soul he went 
into the contest. He fought his country's battles, and in her 
behalf endured, without a murmur, long years of insult and 
imprisonment. His sacrifices and sufferings every Vermonter 
knows. It does not surprise them that, three years later, the 
Father of his Countr}^ said of him : " His firmness and forti- 
tude seem to have placed him out of the reach of misfortune. 
There is something about him that commands our admiration." 
There was a place for him in the Revolution — there is a place 
for him in In'story. He needs no monument to perpetuate his 
fame. As the wheels- of time roll on, a grateful country for- 
gets his faults, and remembers him for his daring courage, his 
generous heart, his fidelity to his country, and his unselfish 
devotion to the State he loved. Compare such a man with 
Benedict Arnold ! The soldier of freedom with the soldier of 
fortune ! Hercules to Cacus ! Hyperion to a Satyr ! " A beast, 
that wants discourse of reason," knows which is the hero and 
which the fraud. 

I am aware tliat criticisms have been made upon the 

language in which Allen asserts that the demand for surrender 

was made. For example, it is said that he could not have made 

the reference to the Continental Congress, because that body 

6 



82 

was not in session nutil several liours after the surrender. 
These are too puerile to deserve notice. Thej never raised a 
doubt that the language was used, save in the minds of the very 
limited number of persons no better informed than the authors 
of these suggestions. 

The subsequent history of Ticonderoga has many points of 
interest. The command of Schuyler; the return here, in 1776, 
of the remnants of Montgomery's shattered army, saved by the 
energy of the Vermonters, turning out in answer to Wooster's 
call ; the coming of Gates, — his summons to the Green Moun 
tain militia, who were publicly thanked by him for defending 
yonder fort from capture; their gathering here again in 1777, 
under Warner and St. Clair, — the retreat of tlie latter, the 
stubborn, gallant fight at Hubbardton ; Bennington and Sara- 
toga; tlie ravages of the British in 1778 — their invasion in 
1780, when they scoured the country as far down as Stillwater ; 
the negotiations with Canada, in 1781, which have given so 
much distress to the enemies of Vermont ; the appearance 
of the British here in force, in October of that year, when the 
Yerraonters " put the hook in their nose, and turned them 
back by the way whence they came," with others, enough to 
fill a volume, must be wholly omitted. Many of them have 
been recorded in that best of " Early Histories," written by 
your venerable ex-President. Tliey are incidents over which 
the children of Vermont will linger with interest througli all 
coming time. 

I have, thus, once more presented the history of the capture 
of Ticonderoga. I think I have referred to all the material 
evidence which bears upon the origin of the expedition, or the 
question of command. Bight well I know that I have repeated 
an " oft told tale." The assaults of Allen's mahgners ; tlieir 



83 

claims in behalf of Arnold have been often exposed and refuted. 
But the leaven of old prejudices against Vermont and her early 
settlers is still active. There are those who, even now, cannot 
be comforted at the thought, tliat in spite of all their enemies, 
the Green Mountain Boys wrought out their independence, — 
who believe that a false cliarge acquires strength by repetition. 
There are few false charges in history which have been reiter- 
ated with such blind malice, such persistence in error, as those 
against Allen and the Yermonters. When once set in motion, 
the vitality of a falsehood in liistory is something surprising. 
You may refute it, but it will not stay refuted. You may beat 
it down to-day, to-morrow it is up again, as vigorous as ever. 
Nay ! you may slay it as dead as the creature of a prehistoric 
age, smitten to its brain center by a thunderbolt of the Almighty, 
— buried below the rocks of the Laurentian epoch, and turned 
to stone by the chemistry of cosmic ages ; and there shall he 
some " man with the muck rake," some delver in the ruins of 
the past, who will I'ob the tomb of its skeleton, and bring it forth 
into the light of day ; and, while its shape oflPends the sight of all 
otlierSjto him it will seem an angelic form, of ambrosial fragrance 
and seraphic beauty ! Thus has it been with the falsehoods 
against Allen and his men. Three times they Jiave been refuted 
by members of this society. The origin of the expedition has 
been demonstrated and minutely described by an accomplished 
scholar of tlie State whence it came ; ^"^^ the historians of our 
country, some of them honored sons of New York, are agreed 
in their conclusions ; and yet these writers of the new school 
of history, without facts, go on repeating their libels as though 
they wera made stronger by repetition. There was a time 
when they might have been excused by the superficial know- 
ledge and bitter prejudices of their authors. But not now. 
Those, who now repeat them, know them to be untrue. How- 

(68) App. 36. 



84: 

ever slight their general knowledge of American history, they 
must be presumed to have read the evidence which has been 
republished in answer to their charges ; their ignorance of which, 
in the preparation of such charges, was wholly inexcusable. 
The repetition of such statements, after the evidence has been 
produced, and they have been pointed to its depositories, there- 
fore, can have neither excuse nor apology. But they are re- 
peated in the jom-nals, in magazine articles, in addresses, 
occasional speeches, — in every form which may attract the 
public attention. Even a recent guide book offers to the 
traveler historical information like this: That the action of the 
Connecticut Committee was hispired by the letter of John 
Brown, from Canada ; that the command was exercised, and 
the captm-e made by Arnold and Allen, — placing the traitor 
first; that Romans was with the party at Castleton, when 
Mott's careful record shows that " he left at Bennington, and 
joined no more;" that " an arrangement was made by which 
Arnold and Allen were to hold something like a joint com- 
mand." In this book, the story of " Veritas," " six hundred 
families included," is rehashed and presented as a dehcious 
morsel of history ; and, while Arnold is portrayed as the " re- 
storer of harmony," — the Bayard without reproach, — Allen 
is declared to be " a sort of Robin Hood," who " played the 
part of a swaggering brigand." 

But the gem of this volume, is the modest conclusion of its 
author, that he leaves ^^ Allen less a hero than he found him!'''' 
Poor, indeed, is the record which can be dimmed or diminished 
by such an assailant ! And these statements are to be accepted 
as facts in " the new era," upon wliich, according to this 
reverend defamer, " the study of American history has now 
entered." For the welfare of his flock, it is to be hoped that 
he is a safer guide in the " narrow way " than he is in the 
liistory of Ticonderoga. 



85 

In view of all the facts, it may not have been an unprofitable 
use of our time to have spent an hour, here, upon the ground 
and theatre of these important events, in vindicating the truth 
of a famihar history. Here was the first substantial triumph 
in arms of American liberty, — the step in advance which made 
retreat dishonorable, reconciliation impracticable. Here was 
the first victory, which strengthened the brave and confirmed 
the wavering. After the morning of the 10th of May, 1775, 
there was no alternative between thirteen conquered colonies 
and an independent nation. This triumph was won by our 
forefathers. It is om' duty to see that their honors are not 
stolen away. I have no hope that I have presented this subject 
in any clearer light than those who have preceded me. But 
none of them have attempted to bring all the facts together, 
and present the entire history in detail, in a connected form. 
This work I have endeavored to do. I beHeve I have referred 
to all the material evidence, or pointed out the places where 
it may be found. If any of it is new, it will delight me to 
have made such a contribution to the treasury of history. 
As I understand history, its chief value consists in pointing out 
the repositories of the facts of which it is made, that those who 
choose may examine them for themselves. On such facts, so 
far as our present subject is concerned, Vermont may trust her 
cause to the impartial judgment of the world. Let diligent 
students of om* revolutionary history, — who have no prejudices 
to satisfy, no preconceived opinions to support, no passions to 
blind them, and no theories to maintain, — answer the question 
which I proposed, at the commencement of this address, for 
themselves. Let them say whether it must not be answered 
now, as every honest historian has answered it for ninety-seven 
years ? " Ticonderoga was captured by the Green Mountain 
Boys, led by Ethan Allen ! " 



I hoped, on this occasion, to have briefly referred to that 
single other charge which the assailants of Vermont have 
attempted to establish upon the facts > of her early record, — 
that of infidelity to the cause of the country, in the negotiations 
with Haldimand, in 1780-81. This charge was made at the 
time, and refuted, somewhat contemptuously by those whose 
integrity in this transaction was questioned ; and it has been 
refuted as often as it has been renewed. There is a consider- 
able amount of evidence on this subject, which has not recently 
been made public. In connection with facts already known, 
it not only excludes from that transaction any taint of suspicion, 
but shows it to have been a work of statesmanship, which not 
only protected Vermont in the most critical period of her ex- 
istence, when threatened by powerful invasions, and by dangers 
which might have overwhelmed any State, — every soldier and 
gun of the national forces were withdrawn from her territory, 
and she was left to defend herself by her own resources, — but 
which powerfully contributed to the success of the national 
cause. Had time permitted, I should have laid some of this 
evidence before you. But it matters little ; Vermont can afibrd 
to wait. The evidence will be preserved, and, if I do not, some 
other Vermonter will make it pubhc. And then the world 
will know that no State in the Union had such a struggle for 
existence as ours ; and that, in the whole twenty jea,Y& of her 
stormy battle for life, there is no important fact or incident to 
be regretted by her children. Her early history will stand, in 
completeness and in detail, more interesting, dramatic and 
creditable to her pioneers, than that of any of her sisters. She 
entered upon her twenty years war, defended by a few courage- 
ous men. She carried it on against the forces of nature, sur- 
rounded by enemies, threatening her on every side. But her 
enemies never invaded her soil, unless to their own destruction. 



87 

She came out of the contest, not only the victor, but respected 
by all her sister States. With her honor untarnished, she took 
her seat as an equal at the National council board, M'liere her 
voice has ever since been powerful on the side of freedom and 
justice ; where it has never been raised in behalf of oppression 
or wrong. Her sons would be recreant descendants of her early 
soldiers and statesmen, if they did not guard her honor as their 
most precious inheritance. 

Nor should tlie acts or words of individuals be charged 
against any of her sister States. Yermont has no controversy 
with New York — she never had. On the contrary, she is 
proud of the Empire State, and rejoices in her rapid march 
toward the commercial supremacy of the world. To suppose 
that the State of New York ever sought to swallow up Yer- 
mont, is to misunderstand the facts of history. There were 
" Rings," a hundred years ago, as powerful and selfish as those 
of to-day. One of them, composing high State officials, land 
jobbers and speculators, before the Revolution, for a time con- 
trolled the legislative and executive powers of that State, as 
effectively as others have controlled them at a recent period. 
They parcelled out the favors of royalty, and the lands of 
honest owners, to their favorites, but they never had the support 
or sympathy of the people of New York. The proof meets 
us at every turn. They proclaimed rewards, large and tempt- 
ing in those days, for the capture of Ethan Allen. He went 
fearlessly to Albany, and no man molested him. They never 
could enforce their disgraceful laws, and never tried to enforce 
them. Their processes failed of service, for the " power of the 
county" would never come forth at their call. Their few 
attempts at arrest more nearly resembled kidnapping expe- 
ditions, than the ordinary execution of legal warrants. The 
instincts of a people are almost always on the side of justice. 
Those of the people of New York were always with the Yer- 



88 

monters. Later, licr statesmen took up the contest in favor of 
Vermont, and stayed the liaiids of the speculators. Her his- 
torians have faitlifnllv recorded the heroism of the Green 
Mountain Bovs, There is no enmity between the two peoples, 
no jealousy between the two States. Nowhere have the false 
charges of the speculators of 1770, and the calumnies of a few 
of their descendants a century later, been visited with severer 
condemnation than among the intelligent historians, the dis- 
tinguished statesmen, and the honest people of that great State, 
upon whose soil you have met to-day. 

Fellow Citizens, Friends, Brother Yermonters ! my work, 
here, is done. "Would that it were better done ; but, such as 
it is, I lay it on the altar of our history. It has, indeed, been 
a pleasant task lor me. A Vermonter never knows how well 
he loves the Moimtain State, until he has wandered beyond her 
borders, and lived among other surroundings. Then, every 
acre of her rugged soil, every leaf of her history, becomes dear 
to him. Then, he is as prompt in her defense against all 
assailants, as any true-hearted son to defend a beloved mother, 
I could not 1)0 otherwise than loyal to her ! In the shadow 
of yonder mountains, four generations of my family have 
lived. There my children were born, and there I hope to 
rest, when the toils of this hfe are closed forever. Glorious 
Vermont ! with thy life-giving air, thy grand old moun- 
tains, fertile valleys, laughing brooks, and lakes of silver ! 
There is no fact of thy histoiy which is not precious in the 
hearts of they children, — no blot on thy fair fame for them to 
remove ! Grander and more glorious than the wealth of 
Croesus, or the power of the Csesars, is the heritage of thy 
people ! What shall outvalue it ? for what earthly treasure 
shall it be exchanged ? Which of its elements shall be parted 
with, or cast aside ? Behold, Vermonters, the wealth ot your 



89 

possessions ! The example and influence of those early pioneers ; 
a long line of honored statesmen, unbroken from the days of 
the " Grand Committee " to the present hour ; the memories 
of Ticonderoga, Hnbbardton and Bennington ; your soldiers, 
first at every call, in the front on every field ; rolling back the 
tide of invasion at Saratoga and Plattsburgh, — charging the 
heights of Chepultepec, unlocking the gates of victory at 
Gettysburg, gaining a lost battle at Cedar Creek, and aiding in 
the final crush of RebelHon on the banks of the Appomattox ; 
your judiciary, never tarnished by the breath of suspicion ; 
your legislature, incorruptible for an hundred years ; yom* 
municipal organizations, town, city and count}', never yet dis- 
honored by a " ring ; " your colleges and common schools, free 
to all, of every class, condition or color; your churches in 
every hamlet ; your benevolent institutions, covering the poor 
at home, and stretcliing forth their protecting arms to the 
farthest islands of the sea ; your thousand homes of comfort 
and plenty, cheered by afifection and warmed by love; a pru- 
dent, plain and vigorous race of men ; well trained, happy 
children ; glorious, true hearted women. A better government, 
a happier people, will be sought in vain, within the limits of 
enlightened civilization. Such, Yermonters, is your inheri- 
tance, earned by the sacrifices and the blood of the men we 
honor to-day. For it all, — for her past history and present 
example ; for all that Vermont has been, and is, and promises 
to be, you are largely their debtors. Teach, then, your chil- 
dren to keep their memories always green ; and from the 
depths of the reverent, grateful hearts of every son and 
daughter of the State we love, let my closing prayer ascend 
to Heaven : " Vermont ! God bless her ! God bless her ! " 



PPENDIX 



APPENDIX. 



NUMBER I. Page 14. 

The reference, in the text, to Montcalm's exertions for the protection of the 
English, after the surrender of Fort William Henry, seems to be sustained by a 
fair balance of cotemporary evidence ; and is confirmed by what is learned from other 
sources, of the character of the French commander. But it cannot be denied, that 
a portion of the evidence bears heavily against Montcalm, and indicates that he 
made little exertion to prevent the butchery. A specimen of this description of 
proof may be found in the graphic account of the massacre given by Captain 
Carver, who was one of the few inmates of the fort who were fortunate enough to 
escape. He says : " That in consideration of the gallant defense the garrison had 
made, they were permitted to march out with all the honors of war ; to be allowed 
covered wagons to transport their baggage to Fort Edward, and a guard to pro- 
tect them from the fiiry of the savages." But he declares, that although sufl'ered 
to retain their arms, they were deprived of every round of ammunition, and when 
the prisoners were drawn out, they found the column completely surrounded by 
the savages. They began by stripping the prisoners of their clothing, and 
slaughtering the sick and wounded. The war whoop was finally given, and the 
Indians began to murder those nearest to them, without distinction. Men, women 
and children were despatched in the most wanton and cruel manner, and immedi- 
ately scalped. Many of the savages drank the blood of their victims, as it flowed 
from their wounds. 

" We now," he continues, " perceived, though too late to avail us, that we 
were to expect no relief from the French; and that, contrary to the agreement 
they had so lately signed, to allow us a sufficient force to protect us from these 
insults, they tacitly permitted them, for I could plainly perceive the French oflicers 
walking about at some distance, discussing together, with apparent unconcern. 
For the honor of human nature, I would hope that this flagrant breach of every 
sacred law proceeded rather from the savage disposition of the Indians, which I 
acknowledge it is sometimes almost impossible to control, and which might now, 
unexpectedly, have arrived to a pitch not easily to be restrained, than to any pre- 
meditated design in the French commander. An unprejudiced observer would, 
however, be apt to conclude that a body of ten thousand Christian troops {most 
Christian troops) had it in their power to prevent the massacre from becoming so 
general." After a thrilling account of his own escape to Fort Edward, he concludes : 

" It was computed that 1.500 persons were killed or made prisoners by these 
savages during this fatal day. Many of the latter were carried ofi' by them, and 
never returned. A few, through favorable accidents, found their way back to their 
native country, after having experienced a long and painful captivity." — Carver^s 
Travels in America, Ed. 1778, pp. 316 to 325. 



94 

— An evidence of the existence of the war between the two great Indian 
nations, to which reference is made in the text, at the discovery of Canada, may, 
perhaps, be found in the following extract from the relation of Cartier's second 
voyage. It was upon this voyage, in the year 1535, that he ascended the St. 
Lawrence to Hocbclaga, and gave the name " Mont Royale " to the mountain, at 
the foot of which is the present city of Montreal. From this mountain, looking 
southward, he was the first white man wlio beheld the Adirondacks and the Green 
Mountains. After his return, in boats, down the river, to the Island of Orleans, 
where his ships had been left, the " Lord of the Country " came to him, and 
desired him, the next day, " to come and see Canada, which he promised to doe." 

"The next day, being tbe 13th of the mouth (October, 1535), he, with all his 
gentlemen, and liftio mariners, very well appointed, went to visile Donnacona and 
his peoi)le, about a league from our ships. The place where they make their abode 
is called Stadacona. When we were about a stone's cast from their houses, many 
of the inhabitants came to meet us, being all set in a ranke, and (as their custome 
is) the men all on one side, and tbe women on the other, still dancing and singing, 
without any ceasing ; and, after we had saluted and received one another, our 
Captaine gave them knives, and such other sleight things ; then he caused all the 
women and children to passe along before him, giving each one a ring of Tin, for 
which they gave him hearty thaukes ; that done, our Captaine was, by Donnacona 
and Taignoagny, brought to see their houses, which (the qualitie considered) were 
very well provided, and stored with such victuals as the countrey yieldeth, to passe 
away the winter withall. Then they shewed us the skins of five men's heads, 
spread upon boards, as we doe use parchments. Donnacona told us that they 
were skins of Toudamaui, a people dwelling toward the South, icho C07ifinuully doe 
wane against them. Moreover, they told us that it was two yearea past that those 
Toudamaus came to assault them, yea, even into tbe said river, in an island that 
lyeth over against Sagueuay, where they had bin the night before, as they were 
going a warfaring in Hognedo, with 200 persons, men women and children, who 
beeing all asleepe in a fort that they had made, they were assaulted by the said 
Toudamans, who put fire round about the fort, and as they would have come out 
of it to save themselves, they were all slaine, only five excepted, who escaped. 
For which losse they yet sorrowed, shewing with signes that one day they would 
be revenged; that done, we came to our ships agaiue." — Hakhtgfs Voyages, Vol. 
III., p. 233. 



NUMBERS II., in. Page 25. 

Pcleg Sunderland was one of the most active and energetic of the early settlers 
of Vermont. John Brown says that he " was an old Indian hunter, acquainted 
with the St. Francois Indians and their language." His associate upon this 
journey was VVinthrop lloyt, who had been many years a captive among the 
Indians ol ' the Caughnawaga tribe. Through the familiarity of his guides with 
the habits and language of the Indians, Mr. Brown was able to ascertain that tbe 
latter had already been urged to join the Koyal forces against the people of Boston, 
aud that they had refused to do so. Sunderland and Hoyt remained among them 



95 

several days, and left them well disposed towards tbe New Englanders, whom they 
promised to join, if they took auy part in the contest. The imijortance, especially 
to the people upon the northern portion of the Grants, of Brown's mission, was 
very great. The result of open war which they most dreaded, was an invasion of 
the Indians Irom Canada, through the instigation of the British. Their neutrality 
enabled all the settlers on the Winooski River to remove, with their effects, to the 
south-western portion of the Grants, and the Indians did not become active par- 
ticipants in the contest until the invasion of Buegoyne, in 1777. 

Sunderland was compensated by the Legislature of Vermont for this service 
in 1787. From his petition, it apjaears that he was employed in it for twenty-nine 
days, and the committee, to which his petition was referred, reported that the 
service was proved to their satisfaction, and, upon their recommendation, he 
received for it "eight pounds fourteen shillings, in hard money orders." In 
Graham's Sketch of Vermont, p. 134, the following account is given of Sunder- 
land's connection with the name of Onion River: "This river took its name 
from the following circumstance: A Mr. Peleg Sunderland, in 1701, in hunting 
tor beaver on this stream, lost his way, and was nearly exhausted with fatigue and 
hunger, when a party of Indians fortunately met him, and, with great humanity, 
relieved his wants, and saved him from perishing. Their provisions wee poor, 
but what they had they freely gave, and their kindness made amends for more 
costly fare. Their whole store consisted of onions, and Mr. Sunderland then gave 
to the stream, near which he was so providentially preserved, the name of Onion 
River, which it has ever since retained." 

In resistance to the authority of New York, before the Revolution, Sunder- 
land was one of the active leaders, — the most active, perhaps, after Allen, Warner 
and Baker. Of this, abundant evidence is furnished by the affidavits published in 
the fourth volume of the "Documentary History of New York," p. 864, et seq. 
One Jacob Marsh, gives a pathetic account of his experiences in Socialborough, in 
the year 1773. He declares that the Bennington mob had " taken off the roof from 
his house, split a number of boards, and done him other damage." That he had 
" been informed, and verily believes, that John Smith and Peleg Sunderland (both 
of Socialboro') were the captains or leaders of the mob;" and that "he verily 
believes, that if he should act in his office of Justice of the Peace, in the said 
county of Charlotte, his effects and property would be destroyed by said mob, and 
that his life would be in danger." He was furnished with a certificate, dated at 
Arlington, November 20, 1773, in these words : " These may sartify, that Jacob 
Marsh hath been examined and had on fare trial, so that our mob shall not medeal 
further with him, as long as he behaves." Benjamin Hough says that Sunderland 
was one of the party who " insisted that he should call together all the people of 
Durham, to their judgment seat,— that Allen declared that the day of judgment 
had come, when every man should be judged according to his works." Sunder- 
land was one of the parties named in the celebrated proclamation, offering a 
reward for the capture of tbe leaders of the opposition to the New York authorities. 

Sunderland appears to have been a captain of the Green Mountain Boys, 
during the Revolution. In 1782, a British officer having raised seventeen recruits 
in the county of Albany, undertook to conduct them through Vermont to Canada. 



96 

Passing through Arlhigton, they made prisoners of Lieutenant Blanchard and 
Seargcut Ormsljee, wliose father, Major Onusbee, upon learning of his eapture, 
and the route which tlic party liad talvcn, after sending an express to inform Col. 
Ira Allen of the facts, directed Captain Sunderland, with a party of men, to pur- 
sue the enemy. The Captain took his hounds with him, who followed the enemy, 
by their scent, but did not overtake them before they had been captured by a party 
under Captain Eastman, of Rupert, which had been sent out by Allen, and way- . 
laid them in a mountain pass. The hounds of Captain Sunderland followed the 
tracks to the very feet of the prisoners, tbus showing that they were the same 
party who had been pursued from Arlington. They were brought before the 
Governor, examined, and committed to Bennington jail, from whence they were 
sent to Canada, and exchanged for Vcrmouters, who were prisoners of war.— 
Allen's Hist. Vt., pp. 230, 331. 

The following is an extract from H. Hall's " Early History of Vermont" p. 
471 : " An examination of the records of Manchester, shows Captain Sunderland 
to have resided in that town until the year 1791 ; to have been the owner of real 
estate and other property, and to have possessed the confidence of his townsmen. 
In 1787, he was appointed at the head of a committee of three to draw instructions 
for the town representatives to the Assembly. On another occasion, he was one 
of a committee on the subject of the school lands of the town, and his name 
appears on the records on other important occasions. The date of his removal 
from Manchester, or the time and place of his death, has not been ascertained. 
He was evidently a man of intelligence, as well as of activity and enterprise, and 
of respectable standing in society." 

It is stated by descendants of one of the families concerned, that Sunder- 
land was one of the party who rescued the lost children of Eldad Taylor, in 
1780, an incident which forms the subject of one of D. P. Thompson's most inter- 
esting tales. It also exhibits the traits of character which made Ethan Allen so 
popular among his neighbors. The relation is thus given by ZadocK Thompson, 
ill his "Gazetteer of Vermont," in a note to his account of the town of Sundek- 

LAND : 

"On the 3lst of May, 1780, two daughters of Eldad Taylor, of Sunderland, 
Keziah, aged seven, and Betsey, aged lour years, wandered into the woods. Not 
returning, the parents became alarmed, and commenced a search, which, with the 
aid of a few neighbors, was continued through the night, without success. The 
next day the search was continued by large numbers from this and the neighbor- 
ing towns, until the middle of the afternoon of the third day, when it was re- 
linquished, and the people who had been out collected together, with the view of 
returning to their homes. Among these was one who thought the search should 
not be abandoned, and this was Ethan Axi.en. He mounted a stump, and soon 
all eyes were fixed upon him. In his laconic manner, he pointed to the father and 
mother of the lost children, now petrified with grief and despair, bade each indi- 
vidual present, and especially those who were parents, to make the case of these 
parents his own, and then say whclher they could go contentedly to their homes, 
without making one further etl'ort to save these dear little ones, who were probably 



97 

now alive, but perishing with hunger, and spending their last strength in crying 
to father and mother to give them something to eat. As lie spoke, his giant form 
was agitated, and the tears rolled down his cheeks, and, in the assembly of several 
hundred men, but few eyes were dry. "I'll go! I'll go!" was at length heard 
from every part of the crowd. They betook themselves to the woods, and before 
night the lost children were restored in safety to the arms of their distracted 
parents. It appeared that the first night they laid down at the foot of a large tree, 
and the second they spent upon a large rock. They obtained plenty of drink from 
the stream, but were very weak for want of food. They, however, both survived, 
and Betsey, the younger, is now (July, 1842) the wife of Captain John Munson, of 
Willistou. The elder was the wife of John Jones, and died some years ago, in 
Williston." 



NUMBER IV. Page 25. 

The letter of John Brown to the Committee of Correspondence in Boston. 

Montreal, March 29, 1775. 
Gentlemen : — Immediately after the reception of your letters and pamphlets, I 
went to Albany, to find the state of the lakes, and established a correspondence 
with Dr. Joseph Young. I found the lakes impassable at that time. About a fort- 
night after, I set out for Canada, and arrived at St. Johns in fourteen days, having 
undergone almost inconceivable hardships, — the Lake Champlain being very high, 
the small streams and rivers, and great part of the country, for twenty miles each 
side of the lake, especially towards Canada, under water. The Lake Champlain 
was partly open, and partly covered with dangerous ice, which, breaking loose for 
miles in length, our crafts drove us against an island, and froze us in for two days, 
after which we were glad to foot it on land. 

I delivered your letters to Messrs. Thomas Walker and Blake, and was very 
kindly received by the Committee of Correspondence at Montreal, from whom I 
received the following state of affairs in the Province of Qtiebeck. Governor Carle- 
ton is no great politician ; a man of sour, morose temper ; a strong friend to 
Admioistration, and the late Acts of the British Parliament, which respect America, 
particularly the Quebeck Bill; has restrained the liberty of the press, that nothing 
can be printed without examination and license. Application has been made to 
him for printing the address from the Continental Congress, and a refusal obtained. 
All the troops in this Province are ordered«to hold themselves in readiness for 
Boston at the shortest notice. Four or five hundred snow-shoes are prepared, for 
what use they know not. Mr. Walker has wrote you, about three weeks since, 
and has been very explicit. He informs you that two regular officers (lieutenants) 
have gone off in disguise, supposed to be gone to Boston, and to make what dis- 
covery they can through the country. 

I have the pleasure and satisfaction to inform you that, through the industry 
and exertions of our friends in Canada, our enemies are not, at present, able to 
raise ten men for Administration. The weapons that have been used by our friends 
to thwart the constant endeavors of the friends of Government (so-called), have 

7 



98 

been chiefly in terrorem. The French people are (as a body) extremely ignorant 
and bigoted, the curates or priests having almost the entire government of their 
temporal, as well ae spiritual affairs. lu La Prairie, a small village, about nine 
miles from Montreal, I gave my landlord a letter of address, and there being 
four Cures in the village, praying over the dead body of an old friar, thcpamphlet 
was soon handed to them, who sent a messenger to purchase several of them. I 
made them a present of each of them one, and was desired to wait on them in the 
Nunnery, with the holy sisters. They appeared to have no disposition unfriendly 
toward the Colonies, but chose rather to stand neuter. 

Two men from the Neio Hampshire Grunts accompanied me over the l^akes. 
The one was an old Indian hunter, acquainted with the Ht. Francis' Indians and 
their language ; the other was a captive many years among the Cayhna%oaga 
Indians, which is the principal of all the Canadian Six Natians, and western 
tribes of Indians, whom I sent to enquire and search out any intrigues carrying on 
among them. These men have this minute returned, and report that they were 
very kindly received by the Caghnawaga Indians, with whom they tarried several 
days. The Indians say they have been repeatedly applied to, and requested to 
oin with tlie King's Troops to fight Boston, but have peremptorily refused, and 
still intend to refuse. They are a very simple, politick people, and say that if they 
are obliged, for their own safety, to take up arms on either side, that they shall 
take part on the side of their brethren, i\\& English in Neto England,— aU the chiefs 
of the Caghnawaga tribe being of English extraction, captivated in their infancy. 
They have wrote a friendly letter to Colonel Israel Putnam, of Pom/ret, in Con- 
necticul, in consequence of a letter which Colonel Putiiam sent them, in which 
letter they give their brother Putnam assurance of their peaceable disposition. 
Several French gentlemen of Montreal have paid theGovernour a visit, and ofl'ercd 
him their services, as officers, to raise a Canadian Army, and join the King's 
Troops. The Governour told them he could get officers in plenty, but the diffi- 
culty consisted in raising soldiers. 

There is no prospect of Canada sending delegates to the Continental Congress. 
The difficulty consists in this : Should the English join in the Non-Importation 
Af-reeraent, the French would immediately monopolize the Indian trade. The 
French in Canada are a set of people who know no other way of procuring wealth 
and honour, but by becoming Court sycophants ; and, as the introduction of the 
French laws will make room for the French gentry, they are very thick about 
the Governor. You may depend that, should any movement be made among the 
French to join against the Colonies, your friends here will give the shortest notice 
possible; and the Indians, on their part, have engaged to do the same, so that you 
have no occasion to expect to be surprised without notice, should the worst event 

take place. 

I have established a channel of correspondance through the Neio Hampshire 
Grants, which may be depended on. Mr. Walker's letter comes by the hand of 
Mr. Jeffiers, once of Boston, now on his way thither, which, together with this, is 
a full account of affiiirs here. I shall tarry here some time, but shall not go to 
Queheck, as there are a number of their Committee here. 

One thing I must mention, to be kept a profound secret. The Fort at Ticon- 



99 

deroga must be seized as soon as possible, should hostilities be committed by the 
King's Troops. The people ou New Rampsliire Grants have engaged to do this 
business, and, in my opinion, they are the most proper persons for this job. This 
will effectually curb this Province, and all the troops that may be sent hero. 

As the messenger to carry this letter has been waiting some time, with impa- 
tience, I must conclude, by subscribing myself, gentlemen, your most obedient, 
humble servant, 

JOHN BROWN. 

To Mr. Samuel Adams, ) (jo^n^ittee of Correspon dance in Boston. 
Dr. J Warren, S 

I am this minute informed that Mr. Carleton has oidered that no wheat go 

out of the river, until further orders ; the design is obvious. 



NUMBER V. Page 28. 
A Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Govern- 
ment of New York, and of their Right to form into an Independant State. 
Humbly submitted to the Consideration of the impartial World. By Ethan 
Allen. Printed by Alden Spooner, 1779: Printer to the State of Vermont. 

The following extract from this pamphlet precedes the portion of it which is 
eited in the text, eommeneing on the ninth page : 

"The approaching rupture between Great Britain and the Colonies was 
matter of serious reflection to the inhabitants of this frontier ; their controversy 
with New York having (at great expense) been previously submitted to the King 
and Privy Council, by the negotiation of special agents, at two diflerent times, and 
was in a high probability of being determined in their favor, which influenced 
some of the inhabitants to take a part with Great Britain; the more so, as this 
part of the country was a frontier, and, of consequence, would be greatly under 
the enemy's power, who was then in possession of Ticonderoga, Crown Point and 
at. Johns, and commanded the Lake with a vessel of fori-e, besides. At the same 
time, their settlements were extended on the east side of the Lake, almost to the 
Province of Quebec. This was their situation when on the very eve of a war with 
Great Britain. 

The Battle of Lexington almost distracted them, for interest inclined them to 
favor the royal side of the dispute ; but the stronger impulses of affection to their 
country excited them to resent its wrongs, and obtain satisfaction for the blood of 
their massacred countrymen. Their condition was truly perplexed and critical; 
their hopes were placed on the royal authority for their deliverance from the en- 
croachments and oppressions of the Government of New York ; but the ties of 
consanguinity, personal acquaintance and friendship, similarity of religion and 
manners to the New Engkmcl Governraents, from whom these inhabitants had most 
generally emigrated, weighed very heavy in their deliberations ; besides, the cause 
of the country was generally believed to be just, and that resistance to Great 
Britain had become the indespensable duty of a free people. But there was one 
very knotty query, which exercised the minds of their best politicians, viz. : Pro- 

Lore. 



100 

Tided they shonld take an active part witli tlieir country ; and, furthermore, pro- 
Tided an accommodation should take place, and the Colonies return to their former 
allegiance, what would then become of them, or their remonstrances against the 
Government of New York, lodged at the Court oi Great Britain? But this danger 
seems to have been luckily passed over. 

Soon after the news of the Lexington Battle, the principal officers of the Green 
Mountain Boys, and other principal inhabitants, were convened at Bennington^ 
and attempted to explore futurity, but it was found to be unfathomable ; and the 
scenes which have Binee taken place, then appeared to be precarious and imcertaiu. 
However, it was imagined that, provided those inhabitants were loyal to their 
country, and the event of the war should prove favorable to America, and their 
struggles for liberty should bring about a revolution, instead of a rebellion ; that, 
in this casCj they should rid themselves of the grievous usurpation of the Govern- 
ment of Neio York, and be entitled and readily admitted to any privileges which 
could reasonably be expected on revolution principles, which undoubtedly will be 
the consequence (for it can hardly be doubted, that, provided the said inhabitants 
had exercised the same degree of loyalty to the King that they have to the country, 
they might have shared as great privileges from the royal favor as they now re- 
quest of Congress, viz. : Provided the event of the war had proved as] successful 
to Britain as it has to America.) And as every of the Colonies and plantations 
were then taking arms for the mutual security of their liberty, and it was equally 
just and incumbent on the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants to do the 
same; it was therefore resolved to take an active part with the country, and 
thereby annihilate the old quarrel with the Government of New York, by swallow- 
ing it up in the general conliictfor liberty ; at that time not apprehending the least 
danger (on the proviso of a revolution's taking place) that Congress would resolve 
them to belong to the Government of New York, or in any manner countenance 
their being deprived of their liberty, by subjecting them under the power of a 
government which they detest more than that of the British, which they have 
manfully assisted the United States to suppress." 



NUMBER VI. Page 29. 

CoL. Samuel H. Paksons to Joseph TKUAraoix. 

New London, 2d June, 1775. 

Dear Sir: — A small sketch of my history since I saw you at Oxford may give 
you some satisfaction, and open a little the state of mind some gentlemen have 
been in the whole of last moon. 

When I left you, 1 proceeded to Hartford, where I arrived Thursday forenoon 
[April 27]. You remember 1 remarked to you, I was concerned for the defenseless 
state (as I supposed) of our cump, and the want of heavy cannon, to efl'ect any- 
thing against the town. On my way to Hartford, I fell in with Capt. Arnold, who 
gave me an account of the state of Ticonderoga, and that a great number of brass 
cannon were there. On my arrival at Hartford, Col. Sam. Wyllys, Mr. Deane and 
myself first undertook and projected taking that fort, etc. ; and, with the assist- 



101 

ance of three other persons, procured money, men, etc., and sent out on this 
expedition, without any consultation with Assembly, or others. This I mention 
only for this reason, that 'tis matter of diversion to me to see the various com- 
petitors for the honor of concerting and carrying this matter into execution con- 
tending so strenuously about a matter, in the execution of which all concerned 
justly deserve applause. But some cannot bear an equal, and none a superior- and 
all make representations at the expeuse of truth, to monopolize what ou"-ht to be 

divided ; but more oi this another time. I waited at Hartford till Saturday got 

my beating orders, and went home. The next week my company was filled and 
I had orders to march to Boston, and the week following began our march when 
to my surprise, the Sunday following, heard the Commissary had stopped the 
companies at Norwich. The same day I sent to Hartford a memorandum respect- 
ing the state of the case. My messenger returned Thursday ; nothino- done. The 
same day I went up myself, and could get no answer till Saturday noon, when my 
orders to march were countermanded, and my regiment ordered back to New 
London till further orders, where I now am, as much chagrined as any person need 
be ; but this is a pleasure to my good friends, who feel a hearty satisfaction in 
mortifying me. The renowned Col. W., the ambassador, is the first on the list of 
my friends. He, on Saturday, mov'd that the further consideration of the desti- 
nation of the troops might be further laid over (to bed, I suppose) for consider- 
ation. This great man is the same unchanged person who, I believe, would even 
now, gladly baffle all overtures for our salvation. 

I am now destined to this state of imprisonment, from whence I shall never 
be delivered without your help, and the assistance of Generals Spencer and 
Putnam. If proper representations of the necessity of more men at Boston was 
made to the Governor by my friends in camp, I am certain he will order my reo-i- 
ment to Boston, immediately after the Assembly rises, which, I suppose, was last 
night, or will be this day. I beg you will use your interest to deliver one from this 
evil state as soon as possible. 

What's become of our friend. Jemmy Lovell ? What is the condition of the 
inhabitants of Boston ? Are they suflFered to come out ? The circumstances of 
our army, and the intended operations of our forces ? are questions I want to have 
answered. If I am to remain on the clam banks, I hope you will take the first 
opportunity to write me, and give as particular information as possible. 

I am. Sir, 
To Capt. Joseph Teumbdll, ) Your Friend, 

In Cambridge. > g. PARSONS. 



NUMBER VII. Page 30. 
The claim that Samuel Adams and John Hancock were at Hartford, and parties 
to the arrangement by Colonel Parsons and his associates, to send the messengers 
to the New Hampshire Grants, there to raise men for the expedition against Ticon- 
deroga, rests wholly upon an extract from a letter published in Force's Archives, 
p. 507, as an " Extract from a letter from a gentleman in Pittsfield to an officer at 



102 

Cambridge, May 4, 1775," in wliich it is said that "the plan was concerted at 
Harttbrd last Saturday, by the Governor and Council ; Colonel Hancock, and Mr. 
Adams and others from our Province being present." Mr. J. Hammond Trum- 
bull, in his concise and excellent paper on the " Origin of the Expedition against 
Ticonderoga," has clearly shown the error of this statement, and that Mr. Bancroft 
■was misled by it. Saturday was the twenty-ninth of April, and on that day, accord- 
ing to Mr. Wells, the biographer of Mr. Adams, the latter, in company with Mr. 
Hancock, arrived at Hartford, having been at Worcester, on the 27th, as we have 
already seen. But the expedition originated at Hartford on the 27th. This is 
shown by the letter from Parsons to Trumbull of June 2, and the receipts for 
the money draicn from the treasury of Connecticut are dated on the 2Hth, before 
the arrival of Messrs. Hancock and Adams. Mott says, in bis journal, that he 
arrived at Hartford on the 28th, and that Deane and Pardons wished he "had 
arrived one day sooner; that they had been on such a plan, and had sent oflf 
Messrs. Noah Phelps and Bernard Romans, who they had supplied with £300 cash 
from the Treasitry," etc. ; and the journal continues, " Saturday, the 29th April, 
in the afternoon, we set out on said expedition." It is, therefore, certain that the 
writer oi the Pittsficld letter was in error, and that Adams and Hancock could 
have had nothing to do with the origin of the expedition, as they did not reach 
Hartford until two days after the plan was laid, and one day after Phelps and 
Romans had departed. 

This is not the only error which has arisen from these Pittsfield letters, and 
their incomplete publication by Mr. Force. They were, in fact, written by the 
Rev. Thomas Allen, to General Seth Pomroy, who was then with the army at 
Cambridge. It is not ditiicult, now that the authorship of these letters is known, 
to undei-stand how Mr. Allen fell into his mistake, for such it was, beyond question. 
Noah Phelps and Romans, who left Hartford with the money, went to Bennington 
direct. If they passed through Pittsfield, they do not appear to have made any stay 
there, or to have communicated their mission to any one previous to their arrival 
on the Grants. Mott and his party left Hartford on Saturday, in the afternoon, and 
did not reach Pittsfield until the evening of Monday, May 1st. They went direct 
to Colonel Easton's, with whom they passed the night. Mr. Allen was chairman 
of the Pittsfield Committee of Safety, and would probably have been consulted by 
Mott and his party. They left Hartford after Adams and Hancock arrived there, 
and might naturally have spoken of their arrival in connection with their own expe- 
dition. The ftxct that Phelps and Romans had preceded them by a day, was 
probably not explained, and thus Mr. Allen was left to infer that the expedition 
was organized on Saturday, instead of on Thursday. Mott states that he overtook 
those who had gone forward, after he reached Bennington, except Noah Phelps 
and a Mr. Hitchcock, who were gone to recounoiter the fort. 

The authorship of the two Pittsfield letters, which are published in a mutilated 
form in the "Archives," was first determined by Dr. Field, in his History of Pitts- 
field, ;published in 1844. Both these letters are given in the Appendix to that 
History. See also No. XIX. of this Appendix. 



103 

NUMBER VIII. Page 33. 

The joni-nal of Captain Mott contaius so clear an account of his part in the 
expedition against Ticonderoga, that I thinli it should be given here, notwith- 
standing its length. I follow the copy in the first volume of the Connecticut 
Historical Society's Collections. • 

" Preston, Friday, 28th April, 1775.— Set out for Hartford, where I arrived 
the same day. Saw Christopher Leffingwell, Esq., who enquired of me about the 
situation of the people of Boston. When I had given him an account, he asked 
me how they'could be relieved, and where I thought we could get artillery and 
stores. I told him I knew j^not," except we went and took possession of Ticonder- 
oga and Crown Point, which I thought might be done by surprise, with a small 
number of men. Mr. Leffingwell left me, and in a short time came to me again, 
and brought with him Samuel H. Parsons and Silas Deane, Esqs., when he asked 
me if I would undertake in such an expedition as we had talked of before. I told 
Lim I would. They told me they wished I had been there one day sooner; that 
they had been on such a plan, and that they had sent ofif Messrs. Noah Phelps and 
Bernard Romans, who they had supplied with £300, in cash, from the Treasury, 
and ordered them to draw for more if they should need ; that said Phelps and 
Romans were gone by the way of Salisbury, where they would make a stop ; that 
they expected a small number of men would join them, and it I would go after 
them, they would give me an order or letter to them, to join with them, and to 
have my voice with them in conducting the afl'air and laying out the money ; and 
also, that I might take five or six men with me. On which, I took with me Mr. 
Jeremiah Halsey, Mr. Epaphras Bull, Mr. Wm. Nichols, Mr. Elijah Babcock, and 
John Bigelow joined me; and Saturday, the 2t)th April, in the afternoon, we set 
out on said expedition. That night arrived at Smith's, in New Hartford ; stayed 
that night. The next day, being Sunday, the 30th April, on our way to Salisbury, 
Mr. Babcock tired his horse ; we got another horse of Esq. Humphrey, in Norfolk, 
and that day arrived at Salisbury, — tarried all night ; and the next day, having 
augmented our company to the number of sixteen in the whole, we concluded it 
was not best to add any more, as we meant to keep our business a secret, and ride 
through the country unarmed till we came to the new settlements on the Grants. 
We arrived at Mr. Dewey's, in Sheffield, and there we sent oif Mr. Jer. Halsey and 
Capt. John Stephens, to go to Albany, in order to discover the temper of the 
people in that place, and to return and inform us as soon as possible. 

That night we arrived at Col. Easton's, in Pittsflcld, where we fell in company 
with John Brown, Esq., who had been at Canada and Ticonderoga, about a month 
before, on which we concluded to make known our business to Col. Easton and 
said Brown, and to take their advice on the same. I was advised by Messrs. 
Deane, Leffingwell and Parsons, at Hartford, not to raise our men till we came to 
the N. Hampshire Grants, lest we should be discovered by having too long a march 
through the country; but when we advised with said Easton and Brown, they 
advised us that, as there was a great scarcity of provisions in the Grants, and' as 
the people were generally poor, it would be difficult to get a sufficient number ot 
men there ; therefore, we had better raise a number of men sooner. Said Easton 



104 

and Brovrn concluded to go with u?, and Easton said he would assist me in raising 
some men in bis regiment. We then concluded for me to go with Col. Easton to 
Jericho and Williamstown, to raise men, and the rest of us to go forward to 
Bennington, and see if they could purchase provisions there. We raised 24 men 
in Jericho, and 15 in Williamstown, and got them equipped, ready to march. Then 
Col. Easton and I set out for Beuniugton. That evening, we met with an express 
from our people, informing us that they had seen a man directly from Ticonderoga, 
and that he informed them tliut they were reinforced at Ticonderoga, and were 
repairing the garrison, and were every way on their guard ; therefore, it was best 
for us to dismiss the men we had raised, and proceed no further, as we should not 
succeed. I asked who the man was, where he belonged, and where he was going, 
but could get no account ; on which I ordered that the men sliould not be dis- 
missed, but that we would proceed. 

The next d.-iy I arrived at Bennington ; there, overtook our people, —all but 
Noah Phelps and Mr. Heacock, who were gone forward to reconnoiter the fort, 
and Mr. Halsey and Mr. Stephens had not got back from Albany. I inquired why 
they sent back to me to dismiss the expedition, when neither our men from Albany, 
nor the reconnoitering party had returned ? They said that they did uot think 
that we should succeed. I told them that fellow they saw knew nothing about 
the garrison ; that I had seen him since, and had examined him strictly, and that 
he was a lying fellow, and had not been at the fort. I told them, with the two 
hundred men that we proposed to raise, I was not afraid to go round the fort in 
open light ; if it was reinforced with five hundred men, they would not follow us 
out into the woods ; that the accounts we had would not do to go back with, and 
tell in Hartford. While on this discourse, Mr. Halsey and Stephens came back 
from Albany, and both agreed with me, that it was best to go forward ; after which, 
Mr. Halsey and Mr. Bull both declared that they would go back for no story, 'till 
they had seen the fort for themselves. On which it was concluded that we would 
proceed ; and, as provisions were very scarce on the Grants, we sent Capt. Stephens 
and Mr. Hewitt to Albany, New City, to purchase provisions, and send to us as 
soon as they could ; and Mr. Romans left us, and joined no more. We were all 
glad, as he had been a trouble to us all the time he was with us. 

Then we proceeded to raise men as fast as possible, and sent forward men on 
whom we could depend, to waylay the roads that lead from those places we were 
raising men in, to Fort Edward, Lake George, Skencsborough, Ticonderoga or 
Crown Point, with orders to take up all those who were passing from either of these 
garrisons, and send to us to be examined ; aud that all who were passing towards 
these garrisons, from us, should be stopped, so that no intelligence should go from 
us to the garrisons ; aud, ou Sunday night, the seventh of May, we all arrived at 
Cassel Town (Castleton), the place where we had appointed for the men all to 
meet ; and on Monday, the 8th of May, the Committee all got together, to conclude 
in what method we would . proceed, in order to accomplish our design, of which 
Committee I was chairman. 

' And, after debating on the different methods to proceed, and in what manner 
to retreat, in case of a repulse, we resolved aud voted, that we would proceed iu 
the following manner, viz. : That a party of thirty meu, under the command of 



105 

Capt, Herrick, should, the next day, in the afternoon, take into custody Major 
Skene and his party, and boats ; and that the rest of the men, which consisted of 
about 14:0, should go through Shorehani to the lake, opposite to Ticonderoga ; and 
that a part of the men that went to Skenesborough should, in the night follow- 
ing, go down the lake, by Ticonderoga, in the boats, to Shoreham, in order to 
carry men across the lake to Ticonderoga. We also sent Capt. Douglass to go to 
Crown Point, and see if he could not agree with his brother-in-law, who lived 
there, to hire the king's boats, on some stratagem, and send up the lake from there, 
to assist in carrying over our men. It was further agreed that Col. Ethan Allen 
should have the command of the party that should go against Ticonderoga, agree- 
able to my promise made to the men when I engaged them to go, that they should 
be commanded by their own officers. 

In the evening, after the party that was to go to Skenesborough was drafted 
out, and Col. Allen was gone to Mr. Wessell's, in Shoreham, to meet some men 
who were to come in there, having received his orders, at what time he must be 
ready, and must take possession of the garrison of Ticonderoga, — the whole plan 
being settled by a vote of the Committee. 

In the evening. Col. Arnold came to us, with his orders, and demanded the 
command of our people, as he said we had no proper orders. We told him we 
could not surrender the command to him, as our people were raised on condition 
that they should be commanded by their own officers. He persisted in his de- 
mand, and the next morning he proceeded forward to overtake Col. Allen. 1 was 
then with the party that was going to Skenesborough, a mile and a half distance 
from the other party. When Col. Arnold went after Col. Allen, the whole party 
followed him, for fear he should prevail on Col. Allen to resign the command, and 
left all the provisions, so that I, with Capt. Phelps and Babcock, was obliged to 
leave the party that I was with, and go with the pack-horses with the provisions, 
and could not overtake them till the first division had crossed the lake. We 
followed them, as soon as the boats got back, and when we got over, they were in 
possession of the fort. We entered the fort immediately, and soon got the Regu- 
lar troops under guard, and their arms all in our possession. This was done on 
Wednesday, the 10th of May. After which. Col. Arnold challenged the command 
again, and insisted that he had a right to have it ; on which, our soldiers again 
paraded, and declared that they would go right home, for they would not be com- 
manded by Arnold. We told them they should not, and at length pacified them • 
and then reasoned with Arnold, and told him, as he had not raised any men, he 
could not expect to have the command of ours. He still insisted that, as we had no 
legal orders to show, he had a right to take the command. On which 1 wrote Col. 
Allen his orders, as followeth, viz. : 

To Col. Ethan Allen:— 

Sir, — Whereas, agreeable to the Power and Authority to us given by the 
Colony of Connecticut, we have appointed you to take the command of a party 
of men, and reduce and take possession of the garrison of Ticonderoga and its 
dependencies. And, as you are now in possession of the same, you are hereby 

8 



]0G 

directed to keep the command of said garrison, for the nse of the American 
Colonies, till you have further orders from the Colony of Connecticut, or from the 
Continental Congress. 

Signed per order of the Committee, 

EDWARD MOTT, Chairman of Committee." 
Ticonderoga, May 10th, 1775. 



NUMBER IX. Page 33. 

The Rev. Thomas Allen was one of the most active patriots in Western Massa- 
chusetts. He was a native of Northampton, and the first minister settled in Pitts- 
field. On the 30th of June, 1774, he was made Chairman of a Standing Committee 
of Safety and Correspondence for the town, in which position his correspondence 
exhibits great vigilance and zeal in the Revolutionary cause. He was active in 
promoting the expedition against Ticonderoga, and the next year he acted as 
chaplain in the army, at White Plains, under Washiugton, and afterwards officiated 
in the same capacity at Ticonderoga. In August, 1777, he went with a volunteer 
company of militia from Pittsfield to Bennington, and took an active part in the 
battle that ensued. "Reporting himself to General Stark, he was forthwith ap- 
pointed chaplain, and there are those who yet express their belief in the efficacy of 
a prayer before the army, on the morning of the action, which ascended from the 
fervent lips of Mr. Allen. Among the reinforcements from Berkshire County, says 
Edward Everett, in his Life of Stark, came a clergyman, with a portion of his 
flock, resolved to make bare the arm of flesh against the enemies of his country. 
Before daylight, on the morning of the 16th, he addressed the Commander as 
follows: ' Wc, the people of Berkshire, have trequently been called upon to fight, 
but have never been led against the enemy. We have now resolved, if you will 
not let us fight, never to turn out again.' General Stark asked him ' if he wished 
to march then, when it was dark and raining V ' No,' was the answer. 'Then,' 
continued Stark, ' if the Lord should once more give us sunshine, and I do not 
give you fighting enough, I will never ask you to come again ! ' The weather 
cleared up in the course of the day, and the men of Berkshire followed their 
spiritual guide into action. 

Before the attack was commenced, being posted opposite to that wing of the 
enemy which was principally composed of refugees, who had joined the invaders, 
Mr. Allen advanced in front of our militia, and in a voice distinctly heard by fhem, 
exhorted the enemy to lay down their arms, assuring them of good quarters, and 
warning them of the consequences of refusal. Having performed what he con- 
sidered a religious duty, and being fired upon, he resumed his place in the ranks, 
and, when the signal was given, was among the foremost in attacking the enemy. 
There is a tradition that Mr. Allen was recognized by some of these refugees ; 
for there were a very few men of this description from Pittsfield and other parts 
of Berkshire, and that they said: "There is Parson Allen; let us poj) him!" 
There is also a tradition, that when he was fired upon, and the bullets of the 
enemy where whistling about him, he jumped down from the rock or stump on 



107 

which he had stood, and cried out : " Now, boys, let us give it to them ! " and 
immediately said to his brother Joseph, by his side : " You load, and I will fire! " 
Being asked whether he killed a man, he replied; "He did not know; but that 
observing a flash -often repeated in a bush near by, which seemed to be succeeded 
each time by a fall of some of our men, he levelled his musket, and firing in that 
direction, he put out that flash'. " 

Dr. Field, from whose sketch of Pittsfield the foregoing is extracted, says that 
Mr. Allen continued in the ministry until his death, which took place on the 11th 
of February, 1810, at the age of sixty-seven years. 

He had twelve childi-en, nine sons and three daughters. On^of his sons. Rev. 
William Allen, D. i>., succeeded his father in the ministry at Pittsfield, and was 
the author of Allen's Biographical Dictionary. Another son, Solomon Metcalf 
Allen, a graduate of Middlebury in 1813, studied Theology, but was appointed 
Professor of the Ancient Languages, at Middlebury, in 1816, and lost his life by an 
accident in the following year. 



NUMBER X. Page 37. 

Major Gershom Beach, of Rutland, Vermont, was one of the most earnest and 
energetic of the Green Mountain Boys. After the arrival of the expedition at 
Shoreham, Captain Noah Phelps, of Sinisbury, Conn., who had been sent forward 
to reconnoitre the fort, joined the party, and reported that the fort was in a com- 
paratively defenseless condition, — the men not being on their guard, and their 
ammunition damaged. Allen immediately dispatched Major Beach to collect men, 
and direct them to join the expedition at Hand's Point. Goodhue, in his " History 
of Shoreham," p. 13, says : " Beach went on foot to Rutland, Plttsford, Brandon, 
Middlebury, Whiting and Shoreham, making a circuit of sixty miles in twenty, 
four hours." 

Major Beach was an intimate friend of Major Skene, and was at Skenes- 
borough on Saturday before Skene was captured. The Major consulted with Beach 
about I'ebuilding the forts at Ticonderoga, Crown Point, etc., and told him his 
father was coming out with a commission as Governor of the country, and 
authority to repair all the defenses. Beach replied that he thought he would have 
difficulty in raising men, as the men would have business ai Boston! Skene was 
60on relieved of all difficulty on this score, for on the following Tuesday he was 
captured and sent to Connecticut. 



NUMBER XI. Page 42. 

The following extract is taken from Zadock Thompson's " Gazetteer of Ver- 
mont," Part Second, p. 33 : 

" While they were collecting at Castleton, Colonel Arnold arrived there, 
attended only by a servant. This officer had been chosen captain by an in de- 
pendant company at New Haven, in Connecticut, and, as soon as he heard of the 
battle at Lexington, he marched his company to Cambridge, where the Americans 



108 

were assembling to inrest Boston. There, he received a colonel's commission 
from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, with orders to raise four huudred 
men for the reduction ol Ticondcroga and Crown Point, which he represented to 
be in a ruinous condition, and feebly garrisoned. His commission being examined, 
Arnold was permitted to join the party ; but it was ordered by a council that 
Allen should also have the commission of Colonel, and should be first in command. 
" To procure intelligence. Captain Noah Phelps, one of the gentlemen from 
Connecticut, went into the fort at Ticonderoga, in the habit of one of the settlers, 
where he enquired for a barber, under the pretence of wanting to be shaved. By 
affecting an awkward appearance, and asking many simple questions, he passed 
unsuspected, aud had a ftworable opportunity of observing the condition of the 
works. Having obtained the necessary information, he returned to the party, and 
the same night they began their march for the fort. And these affairs had been 
conducted with so much expedition, that Allen reached Orwell, opposite to Ticon- 
deroga, with his men, in the evening of the 9th of May, while the garrison were 
without any knowledge of the proceedings, and without any apprehension of a 
hostile visit. 

" The whole force collected on this occasion amounted to 370 men, of whom 
230 were Green Mountain Boys. It was with difficulty that boats could be obtained 
to carry over the troop?. A Mr. Douglass was sent to Bridport to procure aid in 
men, and a scow belonging to Mr. Smith. Douglass stopped by the way to enlist 
a Mr. Chapman in the enterprise, when James Wilcox and Joseph Tyler, two 
young men who were a-bed in the chamber, hearing the story, conceived the design 
of decoying on shore a large oar-boat belonging to Major Skene, and which then 
lay off against Willow Point. They dressed, seized their guns and jug of rum, of 
which they knew the black commander to be extremely fond,— gathered four men 
as they went, and arriving all armed, they hailed the boat, and offered to help row 
it to Shoreham, if he would carry them immediately, to join a hunting party that 
would be waiting for them. The stratagem succeeded, and poor Jack and his two 
men suspected nothiug, till they arrived at Allen's headquarters, and were made 
prisoners of war. 

Douglass arrived with the scow about the same time, and some other boats 
having been collected, Allen embarked with 83 men, and landed near the fort." 

The Willow Point, near which Major Skene's boat lay, must not be confounded 
with another point of the same name, about a half mile north of the fort, upon 
which Allen and his men made their landing. The first Willow Point is on the 
eastern, or Vermont shore, nearly opposite Crown Point, and in the northwesterly 
corner of the town of Bridport. The other is on the west, or New York side, a 
little south of Hand's Cove, where the expedition embarked. — See Goodhue's Hist. 
Shoreham, p. 16. 



NUMBER XII, Page 44. 

There has been much confusion in relation to the true date of the capture of 
Crown Point. Arnold, writing to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, on the 
nth, says : 



109 

" The party I advised were gone to Crown Point, are returned, having met 
with head winds, and that expedition, and taking the sloop, is entirely laid aside." 
Arnold must have known this statement to be false when he penned it. Ira Allen, 
who was in the expedition ag-ainst Ticonderoga, in his " History of Vermont," p. 
59, says, after describing the capture of Ticonderoga, " a party was sent by water, 
as soon as possible, to Crown Point, under the command ol Captain Warner. 
Previous to this. Colonel Allen had sent orders to Captain Baker, of Onion River, 
forty miles north of Crown Point, to come with his company and assist ; and, 
though belated, yet he met and took two small boats on their way to give the 
alarm to Fort St. John. Captain Warner and Baker appeared before Crown Point 
nearly at the same time ; the garrison, having only few men, surrendered without 
opposition." It has been commonly supposed that Warner left on the morning of 
the 10th, soon after the capture of Ticonderoga, and that Crown Point was taken 
on the same day. The following letter, however, now in the possession of Hon. 
L. Hebard, of Lebanon, Conn., just published in " The Dartmouth Magazine," for 
May, 1872, fixes the date of the capture of Crown Point beyond question : 

" Head Quarters, Crown Point, 13th May, 1775. 
Gent. — Yesterday, we took possession of this garrison in the name of the 
country, — we found great quantyties of ordnance, stores, &c. Very little pro- 
vision. We have had parties out several days, watching every passage to Canady, 
by land and water. Have taken two mails ; have not examined them very par- 
ticularly ; find nothing material in Euglish, — some letters in French and High 
Dutch which we could not read. The bearer, Mr. Levi Allen, has this moment 
returned from a party that was watching the lake, to stop any news going to 
Canady, as we want to have sloop return from St. Johns, and make a prize of her. 
She will be well loaded. Allen informs us a bark canoe has been seen standing 
for Canady, three miles north of his station on the lake, by which means, we sup- 
pose, Gov. Carlton will hear what we have done, before this comes to hand. He 
is a man-of-war ; you can guess what measures he will take. We determine to 
fight them three to one, but he can bring ten to one, and more. We should be glad 
of assistance of men, provisions and powder, and beg your advice whether we 
shall abandon this place and retire to Ticonderoga, or proceed to St. Johns, &c., 
<fec. The latter we should be fondest of. We are, Gen'l., yours to command, 

SETH WARNER, 
PELEG SUNDERLAND, 
To His Hon. the Governor and Council ) 
and Gen. Assembly Connecticut." ' 



NUMBER XIII. Page 44. 

ETHAN ALLEN TO THE ALBANY COMMITTEE. 

Ticonderoga, May 11th, 1775. 
GENTLEMEN :— I have the inexpressible satisfaction to acquaint you, that, at 
daybreak of the tenth instant, pursuant to my directions from sundry leading 



110 

g"entlemen of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticxii, I took the fortress of Ticonder- 
oga, with about one hundred and thirty Green Mountain Boys. Colonel Easton^ 
Tvilh about forty-seven valiant soldiers, distinguished themselves in the action. 
Colonel Arnold entered the fortress with me, side by side. The guard was so sur- 
prised, that contrary to expectation, they did not fire on us, but retreated with 
precipitancy. We immediately entered the fortress, and took the garrison 
prisoners, without bloodshed or any opposition. They consisted of one captain 
and a lieutenant, and forty-two men. 

Little more need be said. You know Governour Carlton, of Canada, will 
exert himself to retake it ; and, as your county is nearer than any other part of 
the Colonies, and as your inhabitants have thoroughly manifested their zeal in the 
cause of the country, I expect immediate assistance from you, both in men and 
provisions. You cannot exert yourself loo much in so glorious a cause. The 
number of men need be more at first, till the other Colonies can have time to 
master. I am apprehensive of a sudden and quick attack. Pray be quick to our 
relief, and send us five hundred men immediately ; fail not. 
From your friend and humble servant, 

ETHAN ALLEN, Cotnmander of Ticonderoga, 

Abraham Yates, Chairman of the Committee, Albany. 



NUMBER XIV. Page 48. 

ETHAN ALLEN TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS, 

TicosDEROGA, May 11, 1775, 
Gentlemen : — 

I have to inform you, with pleasure nnfelt before, that on the break of day of 
tenth of May, 1775, by the order- of the General Assembly of the Colony of Con- 
necticut, I took the Fortress of Ticonderoga by storm. The soldiery was composed 
of about one hundred Green Mountain Boys, and near fifty veteran soldiers from 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The latter was imder the command of Coloncj 
James Easton, who behaved with great zeal and fortitude, — not only in council, 
but in the assault. The soldiery behaved with such resistless fury, that they so 
terrified the King's troops, that they durst not fire on their assailants, and our 
soldiery was agreeably disappointed. The soldiery behaved with uncommon 
rancour when they leaped into the Fort ; and, it must be confessed, that the Colonel 
has 'i-rcatly contributed to the taking of that fortress, as well as John Broicn, Esq., 
attorney at law, who was also an able counsellor, and was personally in the attack. 
I expect the Colonies will maintain this fort. As to the cannon and warlike stores, 
1 hope they may serve the cause of liberty, instead of tyranny, and I humbly im- 
plore your assistance in immediately assisting the Government of Connecticut in 
establishing a garrison in the reduced premises. Colonel Easton will inform you 
at large. From, gentlemen, your most obedient, humble servant, 

ETHAN ALLEN. 
To the Honorable Congress of the Province ) 

of Massachusetts Bay, or Council of War. ' 



Ill 

NUMBER XV. Page 50. 

COLONEL ETHAN ALLEN TO GOVERNOR TRUMBULL. 

TICONDEROGA, 13th May, 1775. 
Hon'ble Sir : — I make you a present of a Major, a Captain and two Lieuten- 
ants in tlie regular Establisliracnt of George tlie Third. I hope they may serve as 
ransoms for some of our friends at Boston, and particularly for Capt. Brown, of 
Rhode Island. A party of men, under the command of Capt. Herrick, has took 
possession of Skenesborough, imprisoned Major Skene, and seized a schooner of 
his. I expect, in ten days' time, to have it rigged, manned and armed with six or 
eight pieces of cannon, which, with the boats in our possession, I purpose to. make 
an attack on the armed sloop of George the Third, which is jiow cruising on Lake 
Champlain, and is about twice as big as the schooner. I hope in a short time, to 
be authorized to acquaint your Honour, that Lake Champlain, and the fortifications 
thereon, are subject to the Colonies. 

The enterprise has been approbated by the officers and soldiery of the Green 
Mountain Boys, nor do I hesitate as to the success. I expect lives must be lost in 
the attack, as the commander of George's sloop is a man of courage, etc. 

Messrs. Hickok, Halsey and Nichols have the charge of conducting the 
officers to Hartford. These gentlemen have been very assiduous and active in the 
late expedition. 

I depend upon your Honour's aid and assistance in a situation so contiguous 
to Canada. 

I subscribe myself, your Honour's ever faithful. 

Most obedient and humble Servant, 
ETHAN ALLEN, At present Commander of Ticonderoga. 
To the Hon'ble Jonathan Trumbull, Esq., 

Capt. General and Goveruour of the Colony of Connecticut. 



COMMISSARY ELISHA PHELPS TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF CONNECTICUT. 

Skenesborough, May 16th, 1775. 
To the Hojiorable General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut^ in New England, 
America, now sitting at Hartford : 
Gentlemen of the House : — I now would endeavor to state before you the 
situation of affiiirs of these northern frontiers, and the army and fort, and our pro- 
ceedings from the beginning. When we left Hartford, our orders was to repair to 
the Grants of New Hampshire, and raise an army of men, as we thought proper, 
to go and take the Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and Major Skene, etc., and 
to destroy the fort, or keep it, and send an express to Albany, and see if they 
would keep it ; or send to the Colony of Connecticut. Upon which orders we 
went to Pittsfleld, and Col. Easton and Capt. Douglass [Dickenson ?] joined us 
with about sixtj' men ; and we pursued to Bennington, and met Col. Allen, who 
was much pleased with the intended expedition, and we agreed he should get one 
hundred men. We sent forward to Crown Point and Ticonderoga, Capt. Noah 
Phelps and Mr. Hickok, to reconnoitre and see what discovery they could make 



112 

who met us at Castleton — who informed ns that the regulars was not any ways 
apprised of our coming. To which, the army pursued on, and on the 10th day of 
May instant, tooli Fort Ticonderoga, and also Major Skene, and have sent them, 
with proper guards, to Hartford. There is, at the fort, about 200 men, — in a fort 
of brolicu walls and gales, and but few cannon in order, and very much out of 
repair, — and in a great quarrel with Col. Arnold, who shall command the lort, even 
that some of the soldiers thi'eatcn the life of Col. Arnold. Major Skene's estate 
we have put into the care of Capt. Noah Lee, a man of good character, and capable 
of taking care of the business well. The people on the Grants are in much dis- 
tress for want of provisions. The iron work must be carried on for the benefit of 
the people here ; but it would not do, by no means, to have Mr. Brook stay here, 
as he was looked upon to be a bigger enemy to his country than Major Skene, and 
'tis an easy ?natter to send an Indian to Canada, and inform them all our schemes 
and plans. One enemy in the city is worse than ten outside. 

News I have, by a credible man as any in these parts (by name, Gershom Beach 
of Rutland), and who has been one of Major Skene's best friends, but loves him- 
self and country better,— who told me he was at the Major's on Saturday, before 
the Major was taken (who was taken Tuesday) ; that his father had sent him a 
letter, and shewed it to him, which informed the young Major tliat he had married 
to a lady of fortune, of lorty-three thousand pound sterling, and that he had a com- 
mission in chief over Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point and Fort George; also' 
the Major asked Mr. Beach about rebuilding the forts. Mr. Beach told him he 
could not get men enough, as they would be at Boston. The Major replied, his 
father had a thousand men coming with him, and was to have been here by the 
first day of May instant. Now, gentlemen, I must beg liberty to ofifer my humble 
opinion, which is, that not less than three thousand men be sent here immediately, 
and to push on to St. Johns and Canada, and secure them forts, and, in doing that, 
secure the Canadians and Indians on our side, and rescue the frontier from the rage 
of the savages ; and for another small army to go to Detroit, etc. Begging pardon 
for directing any in these affairs. 

Now, gentlemen, as we have done the business we was sent to do, must pray 
that you would send me special orders, whether I should provide any longer for 
the army, on the Colony of Connecticut's cost, or not. As I was appointed by the 
Committee, of which I had the honor to be one, to be commissary of the army, I 
am determined to go to New City and Albany, and secure some provision, and wait 
for further orders from the Assembly. 

I dined with three Indians this day, who belonged to Stockbridge, sent by Mr. 
Edwards, and a number of other gentlemen of that town, to Canada, to see if they 
can find out the temper of the Canada Indians. I also saw a young gentleman 
from Albany, that says they disapproved of our proceeding in taking the fort, in 
that we did not acquaint them of it before that it was done. Perhaps it would be 
well if some gentlemen should wait on the Congress at New York, so as to keep 
peace with them. N. B. We did inform the Gentlemen Committee of Albany of 
our proceedings, which you will see by a letter in the hands of Capt. Mott. 

Gentlemen, I am, with esteem, your very humble Servant to command, 

ELISHA PHELPS." 



113 

it would, probably, have saved the Colonies the disasters of the next autumn 
and wiuter, including the loss of General Montgomery and the greater part of his 
army, if the earnest counsels of this letter, and of Ethan Allen, in fovor of an 
immediate invasion of Canada, had been followed. There seems little doubt that 
the people of Canada symijaihized with the movements of the Colonies, and might 
easily have been induced to join with them in resistance to Great Britain. But the 
Continental Congress was not ripe for such a movement. It even apologized to 
the people of Canada for the capture of Ticonderoga, and, on the 29th of May, 
adopted an address to them, in which they say, " that the taking of the fort and 
military stores at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the armed vessels on the 
lake, was dictated by the great law of self-preservation. They were intended to 
annoy us, and to cut off that friendly intercourse and communication which has 
hitherto subsisted between us. We hope it has given you no uneasiness," etc. 
And, on the first of June, the same Congress resolved, " That no expedition oi* 
incursion ought to be undertaken or made by any Colony, or body of Colonists, 
against or into Canada." An invasion at that time would probably have met with 
little active resistance. 

The elder Skene, referred to in the foregoing letter, was captured on the 
arrival of the vessel from London in which he took passage, and sent to Phila- 
delphia. On the Sth of June, the Continental Congress being informed " that the 
eaid Skene has lately been appointed Governor of the Forts of Ticonderoga and 
Crown Point," and apprehending that he was " a dangerous partisan of Adminis- 
tration," appointed a committee to examine his papers ; and, on the Sth of July, 
" it appearing that Gov. Philip Skene and Mr. Lundy have designs inimical to 
America," they were ordered to be sent to Connecticut, and placed in charge of 
Gov. Trumbullj as prisoners of war. — See Journals of Cont. Congress^ 1775, ppi 
114, 143. 



NUMBER XVI. Page 51. 
See American BibliopoUst, Vol. III., No. 36, p. 491. Dec. 1871. 

This account, published in the Worcester Spy, May 17, 1755, endorsed by the 
leditor as being " furnished by a correspondent whose veracity can be depended 
upon," is probably the earliest published cotemporary account of the capture. It is 
one week earlier than that of Colonel Easton in the same newspaper, and appears 
to be the source from which the London magazines of the time made up their 
items. The Bibliojjolist is entitled to the credit of reproducing a piece of impor- 
tant evidence, which has not been cited since the controversy respecting Ticon- 
deroga has arisen. The account is as follows : 

" Col. James Easton and Col. Ethan Allen, having raised about 150 men for 
the purpose, agreeable to a plan formed in Connecticut, detached a party of about 
thirty men to go to Skenesborough, and take into custody Major Skene and his 
party of regular soldiers ; and, with the remainder, having crossed the lake in boats 
in the night, and landed about half a mile from said fortress, immediately marched. 



114 

with great silence, to the gates of the fortress, and at break of day, May 10th, made 
the assault with great intrepidity, — our men darting like lightning upon the 
guards, gave them but just time to snap two guns at our men before they took 
them prisoners. This was immediately followed by the reduction of the fort and 
its dependencies. About 40 of the King's troops arc taken i:)risoners (including 
one captaiu, one lieutenant, and inferior oflicers), with a number of women and 
children belonging to the soldiery at this garrison. Major Skene and the whole of 
his party are also taken. The prisoners are now under guard, ou their way to 
Hartford, where it is probable they will arrive the latter end of this week. Those 
who took an account of the ordinance, warlike stores, etc., judged it amounted to 
no less than £300,000 in value. A party was immediately detached to take posses- 
sion of Crown Point, where no great opposition was expected to be made. As the 
possession of this place affords us a key to all Canada, and may be of infinite im- 
portance to us in future, it must rejoice the hearts of all lovers of their country, 
that so noble an acquisition was made without the loss of one life, and is certainly 
an encomium upon the wisdom and valour of the New Euglanders, however some 
tories would fain insinuate that they will not fight nor encouuter danger. 

^^ What think ye of the Yankees now? 

We are told there arc about 100 pieces of cannon, from G to 24 i^ounders at 
Ticonderoga." 



NUMBER XVII. Page 53. 

PETITION OF CAPTAIN DELAPLACE. 

To the Honorable, the General Assembly of the Governour and Company of the 
English Colony of Connecticut, in New England, in America, now 
convened at Hartford : 

The memorial of William Delaplace, a Captain in His Majesty's Twenty-Sixth 
Regiment, and Commandant of the Fort and garrison of Ticonderoga, in behalf of 
himself and the officers and soldiers under his command, beg leave to represent 
our difficult situation to your Honours, and petition for redress. 

Your memorialist would represent, that ou the morning of the tenth of May 
instant, the garrison of the Fortress of Ticonderoga, in the Province of New York, 
was surprised by a party of armed men, under the command of one Ethan Allen, 
consisting of about one hundred and fifty, who had taken such measures eflfectu- 
ally to surprise the same, that very little resistance could be made, and to whom 
your memorialists were obliged to surrender as prisoners ; and overpowered by a 
superior force, and disarmed, and by said Allen ordered immediately to be sent to 
Hartford, in the Colony of Connecticut, where your memorialists are detained as 
prisoners of war, — consisting of officers, fort3'-seven private soldiers of His 
Majesty's trooi^s, besides women and children. That your memorialists, being 
ignorant of any crime by them committed, whereby they should be thus taken 
and held, also are ignorant by what authority said Allen thus took them, or that 
they arc thus detained in a strange country, and at a distance from the post as- 



115 

Bigned them ; thiis know not in what light they are considered by your Honours 
consequently know not what part to act ; would therefore ask your Honours' 
interposition and protection, and order that they be set at liberty, to return to the 
post from whence they were taken, or to join the regiment to which thy belong; 
oi', if they are considered in the light of prisoners of war, your Honours would be 
pleased to signify the same to them, and by whom they are detained, and that 
your Honours would afford us your favor and protection during the time we shall 
tarry in this Colony ; and your memorialists shall ever pray. 

WILLIAM DELAPLACE, 

Captain, Commandant Ticonderoga Fort. 
Hartfokd, May 24, 1775. 



NUMBER XVIII. Page 52. 

" ATJTHENTICK ACCOUNT OP T^E TAKING OP FORTRESSES AT TICONDEROGA 
AND CROWN POINT BY A PARTY OP THE CONNECTICUT FORCES. 

" New York, May 18, 1775. 

" Captain Edward Mott and Captain Noah Phelps set out from Hartford on 
Saturday, the twenty-ninth of April, in order to take possession of the Fortress 
of Ticonderoga, and the dependencies thereto belonging. They took with them 
from Connecticut sixteen men unarmed, and marched privately through the 
country till they came to Pittsfield, without discovering their design to any person, 
till they fell in company with Colonel Ethan Allen, Colonel Easton, aud John 
Broion, Esq., who engaged to join themselves to said Mott and Phelps, and to raise 
men sufficient to take the place by surprise, if possible. Accordingly, the men 
were raised, and proceeded, as directed by said Mott and Phelps, Colonel Ethan 
Allen commanding the soldiery. On Tuesday, they surprised and took the fortress, 
making prisoners the Commandant and his party. Ou Wednesday morning they 
possessed themselves of Crown Point, taking possession of the ordinance stores, 
consisting of upwards of two hundred iDieces of cannon, three mortars, sundry 
howitzers, and filty swivels, etc. 

" Ethan Allen, fearful ol an attempt from Governour Carleton to retake the 
place, has written to the Committee of Albany for a supply of five hundred men 
and provisions. The Committee, however, not perceiving themselves competent 
to determine on a matter of so much importance, requested the advice of our 
General Committee, who referred them, aud immediately despatched an express, 
to the Congress now sitting at Philadelphia.'''' 



NUMBERS XIX. and XX Page 54. 

See Number VII. of this Appendix, where the authorship of this letter is 
referred to. The letter of May 9th, written by Kev. Thomas Allen to General 
Pomeroy, is given in such an imperfect form in the " Archives," that I give it here 



116 

in lull from Dr. Field's " History of Pittsfleld," p. 75. The portions italicised are 
omitted by Mr. Force, who probably follows a copy published at the time. The 
importance of the coucluding paragraph is apparent. 

"PiTTSPlELD, May 9th, 1775. 
Gen. Pomerot— Sin : 

I shall esteem it a great happiness if I can communicate any intelligence to you,- 
Sir, that shall be of any service to my country. In my last, 1 wrote to you of the 
northern expedition. Before the week ends, we are in raised hopes, here, of hear- 
ing that Tifonderoga and Crown Point are in other hands. \Vhether the expe- 
dition fails or sticceeds, I will send you the most early intelligence, as I look on it as 
an affair of great impoi'tance. Solomon, the Indian .king, at Stockbridge, was 
lately at Col. Easton's, of this town, and said there that the Mohawks had not only 
gave liberty to the Stockbridge Indians to join us, but had sent them a belt, denot- 
ing that they would hold in readiness 500 men, to join us immediately on the first 
notice, and that the said Solomon holds an Indian post in actual readiness to run 
•with the news as soon as they shall be wanted. Should the Council of War judge 
it necessary to send to them, after being better informed of the matter, by Captain 
Goodrich, now in the service, if you should issue out your Orders to Col. Easton, 
I make no doubt that he could bring them down soon. These Indians might be of 
great service, should the King's troops march out of Boston, as some think they 
undoubtedly will, upon the arrival of the recruits, and give no (us ?) battle. 

Our militia, this way. Sir, arc vigorously preparing for actual readiness. 
Adjacent towns, and this town, are buying arms and ammunition. There is a 
plenty ot arms to be sold at Albany, as yet, but we hear, by order of the Mayor, 
etc., no powder is to be sold, for the present, there. The spirit of liberty runs 
high there, as you have doubtless heard by their post to our head quarters. I have 
exerted myself to disseminate the same spirit in King's District, which has of late 
taken a surprising effect. The poor Tories at Kinderhook are mortified and grieved, 
and are wheeling about, and begin to take the quick step. New York Govern- 
ment begins to be alive in the glorious cause, and to act with great vigor. Some, 
this way, say that the King^s troops will carry off all the plate, merchandize and 
plunder of the town of Boston, to pay them for their ignoininious expedition, which, 
in my opinion, icoiddnot be at all inconsistent with the shameful principles of those 
who have sent them on so inglorious an expedition. 

I fervently pray. Sir, that our Council of War may be inspired with wisdom 
from above, to direct the warlike enterprise with prudence, discretion and vigor. 
O! may your councils and deliberations be under the guidance and blessing of 
Heaven ! Siuce I began, an intelligible person, who left Ticonderoga Saturday 
before last, informs me, that having went through there and Crown Point about 
three weeks ago, all were secure ; but, on his return, he fouud they were alarmed 
with our expedition, and would not admit him into the fort ; that there were 
twelve soldiers at Crown Point, and he judged near two hundred at Ticonderoga; 
that these forts are out of repair, and much in ruins ; that it was his own opinion 
our men would undoubtedly be able to take them ; and that he met our men last 
Thursday, who were well furnished with cattle, and wagons laden with provisions. 



117 

and in good spirits, -who, he supposed, would arrive there last Sabbath day, and 
he doubted not but this week they would be in possession of those forts. He in- 
formed them where they might obtain a plenty of ball, and there are cannon 
enough at Crown Point, which they cannot secure from us ; that he saw the Old 
Sow from Cape Breton, and a number of good brass cannon, at Ticonderoga. 
Should this expedition succeed, and should the Council of War send up their orders 
for the people this way to transport by land twenty or thirty of the best cannon 
to headquarters, I doubt not but the people in this country would do it with all 
expedition. We could easily collect a thousand yoke of cattle for the business. 

Since I wrote the last paragraph, an express has arrived from Benedict Arnold, 
Commander of the forces against Ticonderoga, for recruits ; in consequence of 
which, orders are issued out for a* detachment of eighteen men of each company in 
this regiment to march immediately, loho will be on their way this day. I am, Sir, 
with great respect, your obedient Servant, 

THOMAS ALLEN." 

I am aware that it has been generally assumed that Arnold went through the 
towns in Western Massachusetts, and arranged with officers there to enlist his 
men. Sparks, in his Life of Allen (Am. Biog., Vol. I., p. 273), says that " Arnold 
had agreed with officers in Stoekbridge to enlist and forward such (men) as could 
be obtained, making all haste himself to join the expedition, which he did not 
hear was on foot until he came to that town." Smith, in his " History of Pitts- 
field," Vol. I., p. 219, says that Arnold " is said to have authorized enlistments in 
Stoekbridge ; but, on reaching Pittsfield, he learned of the expedition which was 
anticipating him, and hastened to overtake it." But I am not aware of any evi- 
dence proving that he passed through either of these towns. I therefore place 
Arnold's letter from Rupert in contrast with Mr. Allen's from Pittsfield, and leave 
the reader to judge for himself whether the inference of the Text is well founded. 
For myself, I do not believe that he could have passed through Pittsfield, and 
commenced enlistments there without the knowledge of Mr. Allen, the Chairman 
of the Pittsfield Committee. If he had done so, / do not believe he would have 
sent back an express from Rupert, to the towns in which he had comtne7iced his enlist- 
ments, with the following letter, first published by Mr. Smith, in his " History of 
Pittsfield : " 

Reuport, 8th May, 1775. 

Gentlemen : — By the last information I can get, there is one hundred men, or 
more, at Ticonderoga, who are alarmed and keep a good look out. I am also in- 
formed the sloop has gone to St. Johns for provisions ; that she had six guns 
mounted, and twenty men. We have only one hundred and fifty men gone on, 
which are not sufficient to secure the vessels and keep the lakes; this ought, by 
all means, to be done, that we may cut of!' their communication, and stop all 
supplies going to the fort, until we can have a sufficient number of men from the 
lower towns. 

I beg the favor of you, gentlemen, as far down as this reaches, to exert your- 
selves, and send forward as many men to join the army here as you can possibly 



118 

spare. There is plenty of provisions engaged, and on the road, for five hundred 

men six or eight weeks. Let every man bring as much powder and ball as he can ; 

also a blanket. Their wages are 40s. per month, I humbly engaged to see paid'; 

also the blankets. 

I am. Gentlemen, your humble Servant, 

BENEDICT ARNOLD, 

Commander of the Forces. 
To the Gentlemen in the Southern Towns. 



NUMBER XXI. Page 56. 

BENEDICT ARNOLD TO THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 

TicoNDEROGA, May 11, 1775. 
Gentlemen: — I wrote you yesterday, that, arriving in the vicinity of this place, 
I found one hundred and fifty men, collected at the instance of some gentlemen 
from Connecticut (designed on the same errand on which I came), headed by 
Colonel Ethan Allen, and that I had joined them, not thinking proper to await the 
arrival of the troops I had engaged on the road, but to attempt the fort by sur- 
prise ; that we had taken the fort at four o'clock yesterday morning, without op- 
position, and had made prisoners, one Captain, one Lieutenant, and forty odd 
privates and subalterns, and that we found the fort in a most ruinous condition! 
and not worth rej)airiug. That a party of fifty men were gone to Croicn Point, 
and that I intended to follow with as many men, to seize the sloop, etc. ; and that 
I intended to keep possession here until 1 had further advice from you. On and 
before our taking possession here, I had agreed with Colonel Allen to issue furthe 
orders jointly, until I could raise a sufficient number of men to relieve his people, 
on which plan we proceeded when I wrote you yesterday, since which. Colonel 
Allen, finding he had the ascendency over his people, positively insisted I should 
have no command, as I had forbid the soldiers j)lundering and destroying private 
property. The power is now taken out of my hands, and I am not consulted ; 
nor have I a voice in any matters. There is here, at present, near one hundred 
men, who are in the greatest confusion and anarchy, destroying and plundering 
private property, committing every enormity, and paying no attention to publick 
service. The party I advised were gone to Crown Point, are returned, having met 
with head winds, and that expedition, and taking the sloop (mounted with six 
guns), is entirely laid aside. There is not the least regularity among the troops, 
but everything is governed by whim and caprice, — the soldiers threatening to leave 
the garrison on the least affront. Most of them must return home soon, as their 
families are suffering. Under our present situation, I believe one hundred men 
would retake the fortress, and there seems no prospect of things being in a better 
situation. I have, therefore, thought proper to send an express, advising you of 
the state of affairs, not doubting you will take the matter into your serious con_ 
sideration, and order a number of troops to join those I have coming on here; or 
that you will appoint some other person to take the command of them and this 
place, as you shall think most proper. Colonel Allen is a proper man to head his 



119 

own wild people, but entirely unacquainted with military service ; and as I am the 
only person who has been legally authorized to take possession of this place, I am 
determined to insist on my right, and I think it my duty to remain here against 
all opposition, until I have further orders. I cannot comply with your orders in 
regard to the cannon, etc., for want of men. I have wrote to the Governor and 
General Assembly of Co7inecticut, advising them of my apjjointment, and giving 
them an exact detail of matters as they stand at present. I should be extremely 
glad to be honorably acquitted of my commission, and that a proper person might 
be appointed in my room. But as I have, in consequence of my orders from you, 
gentlemen, been the first person who entered and took possession of the fort, I 
shall keep it, at every hazard, until I have further advice and orders from you and 
the General Assembly of Connecticut. 

I have the honor to be. Gentlemen, your most obedient, humble Servant, 

BENEDICT ARNOLD. 
P. S. It is impossible to advise you how many cannon are here and at Crown 
Point, as many of them are buried in the ruins. There is a large number of iron, 
and some brass, and mortars, etc., lying on the edge of the lake, which, as the 
lake is high, are covered with water. The confusion wc have been in has pre- 
vented my getting proper information, further than that there are many cannon 
shells, mortars, etc., which may be very serviceable to our army at Cambriclge. 

B. A. 



NUMBERS XXII and XXIII. Page 58. 

The proof that the expedition to Crown Point had not " been entirely laid 
aside," and that Arnold must have known it, is found in No. XII. of this Ap- 
pendix. 

ARNOLD TO MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 

TicoNDEROGA, May 14, 1775. 
Gentlemen : — My last was the 11th instant, per express, since which a party of 
men have seized on Croion Point, in which they took eleven prisoners, and found 
sixty-one pieces of cannon serviceable, and fifty three unfit for service. I ordered 
a party to Skenesborough, to take Major Skene, who have made liim prisoner, and 
seized a small schooner, which is just arrived here. I intend setting out in her 
directly, with a batteau and fifty men, to take possession of the sloop, which, we 
are advised this morning by the post, is at St. Johns, loaded with provisions, etc., 
waiting a wind for this place. Enclosed is a list of cannon, etc., here, though im- 
perfect, as we have found many pieces not included, and some are on the edf-e of 
the lake, covered with water. I am, with the assistance of Mr. Bernard Romans, 
making preparation at Fort George for transporting to Albany those cannon that 
will be serviceable to our army at Cambridge. I have about one hundred men here 
and expect more every minute. Mr. Allen's party is decreasing, and the dispute 
between us subsiding. I am extremely sorry matters have not been transacted 
with more prudence and judgment. I have done everything in my power, and 



120 

put up with many Insults to preserve peace and serve the publick. I hope soon to 
be properly released from this troublesome business, that some more proper per- 
son may be appointed in my room ; till which, I am, very respectfully, gentlemen, 
your most obedient, humble servant, 

BENEDICT ARNOLD. 

P. 8. Since writing; the above, Mr. Romans concludes going to Albany to for- 
ward carriages for the cannon, etc., and provisions, which will soon be wanted. I 
beg leave to observe he has been of great service here, and I think him a very 
spirited, judicious gentlemen, who has the service of the country much at heart, 
and hope he will meet proper encouragement. 

B.A. 



NUMBER XXIV. Page 62. 

MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS TO BENEDICT ARNOLD. 

WU.TERTOWN, May 22, 1775. 

Sir : — This Congress have this day received your letter of the 11th instant, 
informing the Committee of Safety of the reduction of the Fort at Ticonderoga, 
with its dependencies, which was laid before this Congress by said Committee. 
We applaud the conduct of the troops, and esteem it a very valuable acquisition. 

We thank you for your exertions in the cause, and considering the situation 
of this Colony at this time, having a formidable army in the heart of it, whose 
motions must be constantly attended to, and as the affairs of that expedition began 
in the Colony of Connecticut, and the cause being common to us all, we have 
already wrote to the General Assembly of that Colony to take the whole matter 
respecting the same under their care and direction, until the advice of the Conti- 
nental Congress can be had in that behalf, a copy of which letter we now enclose 
to you. 

We are, etc." 

On the same day, the Massachusetts Committee of Safety laid Arnold's letter 
of May 11th before the Provincial Congress of that State, and requested that body 
to " proceed thereon, in such manner as to them in their wisdom shall seem meet," 
adding the remark, " this Committee apprehend it to be out of their province in 
any respect whatever." The following is the letter in which the Committee, antici- 
pating Arnold's refusal to yield up his command, relieve themselves of all further 
responsibility in the matter. This letter shows that Arnold not only had no com- 
mission or authority from the Congress of Massachusetts, but that all the authority 
he had was derived from the Convnittee of Safety. Arnold's claim that he was 
commissioned by the Congress of Massachusetts was unfounded. On the 26th of 
May, the Congress were obliged to call upon the Committee to ascertain the nature 
and extent of its ai'rangements with Arnold. 



121 

MASSACHUSETTS COMMITTEE OF SAFETY TO BENENICT ARNOLD. 

" Cambkidge, May 28, 1775. 
The expedition to Ticonderoga, etc., requiring secrecy, iLe Congress of this 
Colony was not acquainted with the orders you received from this Committee. It 
gives us great pleasure to be informed by the express, C;iptain Brown, that the 
success you have met with is answerable to your spirit in the undertaking. We 
have now to acquaint you that the Congress have taken up this matter^ and given th6 
necessary directions respecting these acquisitions. It is then, Sir, become your duty, 
and is our requirement, that you conform yourself to such advice and orders as you 
shall from time to time receiye from that body." We are, etc." 



NUMBER XXV. Page 69. 

The instructions of the Massachusetts Congress to the Committee were dated 
June 14th. It is evident from their tenor, that Arnold no longer retained the 
confidence of that Congress, and although he had some time before, while claim- 
ing to act under Massachusetts, put himself in direct communication with the 
Continental Congress, his eflorts to secure the confidence of that body had met 
with no success, for on the 30th of May, immediately after the receipt of a letter 
from Arnold, stating that he had " certain intelligence " that four hundred regu- 
lars were at St. Johns, about to be joined by a large number of Indians, for the 
purpose of retaking Ticonderoga ! " the Continental Congress " ordered that the 
President, in his letter, acquaint Governor Trumbull that it is the desire of the 
Congress that he should appoint a person in whom he can confide, to command the 
forces at Crown Point and Ticonderoga.'''' — (See Journals of Cong., V71lb,p. 111.) 

Colonel Hinman, appointed under this resolution, was on the way to Ticon- 
deroga, with his regiment. Arnold now made another desperate effort to retain 
the control of affairs on this frontier. Ou the 13th of June, he addressed a long 
letter to the Congress at Philadeli:)hia, urging an invasion of Canada. Two weeks 
before, he had written that the Indians of Canada, with lour hundred Regulars, 
were at St. Johns, ou their way to recapture the forts on the lake. Now, he has 
the "agreeable intelligence that the Indians are determined not to assist the 
King's troops ; " that the " Canadians are very impatient of our delay, and are 
determined to join us, whenever we appear in the country with any force to 
support them ; " that " Gov. Carleton, by every artifice, has been able to raise only 
about twenty Canadians," and that if " Congress should think proper to take 
possession of Montreal and Quebeck, (he is,) I am positive two thousand men 
might very easily efi'ect it " He then suggests a plan of the expedition, and urges 
upon Congress the necessity of undertaking it. His letter closes with a " Memor- 
andum : " " Propose, in order to give satisfaction to the different Colonies, that 
Colonel Hinman's Regiment, now ou their march from Connecticut to Ticonder- 
oga, should form part of the army— say one thousand men ; 500 do. to be sent 
from New York, including one company of one hundred men, of the train of 
artillery, properly equipped ; 500 do. B. Arnold's Regiment, including seamen and 
marines on board the vessels ! {No Green Mountain Boys! ") etc. This letter also 
9 



122 

contained the agreeable intelligence that the Indians of Canada "hare made a 
law, that if any one of their tribe shall take up arms for that purpose (to assist 
the King's troops) he shall im7nediatehj be put to death ! " 

On the same day, June 13, Arnold wrote the Governor ol Connecticut, urging 
the invasion of Canada, and stating that live chief men of the Indians, "who are 
now here with their wives and children, and press very hard for our army to 
march into Canada, as they are much disgusted with the regular troops." Gov. 
Carleton " is much disgusted with the merchants of Montreal, aud has threatened 
them, if they will not defend the city, in case of au attack, he will set fire to it, 
and retreat to Quebec." 

The extravagance of this letter defeated its purpose. Not the slightest atten - 
tion was paid to it by Connecticut or the Continental Congress, — their confidence 
in Arnold no longer existed. The action of the Massachusetts Congress, already 
mentioned, followed. Its minute instructions to its committee of June 14, plainly 
show its determiualiou to withdraw all its authority Irom Arnold, unless, as the 
instructions stated, "he was willing to continue at one or both of the said posts, 
under the command of such chief officer as is, or shall be, appointed by the Govern- 
ment of Connecticict." In any other event, the committee was to direct Arnold 
" to return to this Colony, and render his account of the disposition of the money, 
ammunition and other things, which he received at his setting out upon his expe- 
dition ; and also of the charges he has incurred, and the debts which he has con- 
tracted in behalf of this Colony, by virtue of the commissions aud instructions 
aforesaid." 

When Colonel Hinm!\n's regiment reached Ticonderoga, Arnold was fully 
advised of the only terms upon which he could continue in the service. His 
reception and treatment of the committee, therefore, deserves particular mention. 



REPORT or THE CROWN POINT COMMITTEE TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS. 

Cambridge, July 6, 1775. 

The Committee appointed to proceed to the posts of Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point, etc., beg leave to report, that they proceeded through the new settlements, 
called the New Hampshire Grants, and carefully observed the road through the 
same, and find that there is a good road from Williamstown to the place where 
the road crosseth the river called Paulet River, which is about fifteen miles from 
Skenesborough ; from thence to the falls of Wood Creek, near Major Skene's 
house, the road is not feasible, and unfit for carriages, but cattle may be drove that 
■way very well. 

Your Committee, having taken with them the copies of the commission and 
instruction from the Committee of Safety to Col. Benedict Arnold, and informed 
themselves, as fully as they were able, in what manner he had executed his said 
commission and instructions, andjind that he was with Colonel Allen and others at 
the time the fort was reduced, but do not Jind that he had any men under his com- 
mand at the time of the reduction of those fortresses ; but find that he did after- 
wards possess himself of the sloop on the lake at St. Johns. We find the said 



123 

Arnold claiming the command of said sloop and a schooner, which is said to be 
the property of Major Skene, and also ail the posts and fortresses at the south end 
of Lake Champlain and Lake George, although Colonel Hiumau was at Ticonder- 
oga with near a thousand men under bis command at the several posts. 

Tour Committee informed the said Arnold of their commission, and, at his 
request, gave him a copy of their instructions ; upon reading of which he seemed 
greatly disconcerted, and declared he would not be second in command to any 
person whomsoever ; and after some time contemplating upon the matter, resigned 
his post, and gave your Committee his resignation under his hand, dated the 24th 
of June, 1775, which is herewith submitted, and at the same time ordered his 
men to be disbanded, which, he said, was between two and three hundred. Your 
Committee not finding any men regularly under said Arnold, by reason of his so 
disbanding them, appointed Colonel Easton, who was then at Ticonderoga, to take 
the command, under Colonel Hinman, who was the principal commanding officer 
of those posts, of the Connecticut forces, and endeavored to give the officers and 
men who had served under said Arnold an opportunity to re-engage, of which 
numbers enlisted, and several of the officers agreed to hold their command under 
the new appointment. * * * ***#* 

Your Committee found that as soon as Col. Arnold had disbanded his men, 
some of them became dissatisfied and mutinous, and many of them signified to 
the Committee that they had been informed that they were to be defrauded out of 
the pay for past services. The Committee, in order to quiet them, engaged under 
their hands, in behalf of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, that as soon as the 
rolls should be made up and properly authenticated, they should be paid for their 
past services, and all those who should engage anew should have the same wages 
and bounty as is promised to those men who serve within said Colony." 

Tour Committee, when they had received Col. Arnold's resignation, directed 
him to return to Congress, and render an account of his proceedings, agreeable to 
their instructions, a copy of which order is herewith submitted." 

The remaining portions of the report have no reference to Arnold. The Com- 
mittee recognized Easton as Colonel, appointed JbAw Brown Major, AnA Jonas Fay 
Surgeon of the Post, and advised the Continental Congress and the New York 
Convention of the importance of holding Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The 
following letter from Edward Mott to Governor Trumbull supplies some incidents 
in the Committee's experience which policy would have prohibited them from 
making public at that time : 

" Albany, July 6, 1775. 
Honored Sir: — I arrived here last night, ten o'clock, from Ticonderoga; am 
sent express by Col. Hinman, to acquaint the committee at this place, and also the 
Provincial Congress at New York, with the condition of the troops and garrisons 
at Ticonderoga, Crown Point and Fort George ; expect to set out from hence to 
Netv York to-morrow ; have not as yet waited on the committee here, but write 
these lines by Captain Stevens, who will not tarry, but sets out for home this mom- 



124 

Ing. When I arrived at Ticonderoga, Coloucl TThiman had no command there, as 
Colonel Arnold refused to let him command either of the garrisons^ but had given 
the command of Ticondei'oga to Captain Herrick, from whom Colonel Hinmari's men 
were obliged to take their orders, or were not snff'ered to pass to and from the garri- 
son. The same dag, a committee of three gentlemen from Massachxisetts, viz. : Mr. 
Spooner, Colonel Foster And Colonel SuUivan, returned to Ticonderoga from Crmon 
Point, and informed us that they had been to Colonel Arnold, with orders from 
the Congress requiring him to resign the command to Colonel Uininan, and that 
he, with his regiment, should come under the command of said Hinman, which 
said Arnold positively refused; on which the said Committee discharged Colonel 
Arnold from the service^ and desired the privilege to speak with the people loho had 
engaged xinder Arnold, but loere refused. They further informed that Colonel 
Arnold and some oj his people had gone on board the vessels ; that they nnderstood 
they threatened to go to St. Johns and deliver the vessels to the Regidars ; and that 
Arnold had disbanded all his troops but those that icere on board said vessels ; that 
they xcere treated very ill, and threatened, and after they came aicay in a batteaii, 
they were fired upon with swivel-guns, and small arms by Arnold' s people ; and that 
Colonel Arnold and his men had got both the vessels, and were drawn off into the 
lake. On which I desired Colonel Himnan to let me, with Lieutenant Halsey and 
Mr. Duel- (who was Judge of the Court for the County of Charlotte, in this 
Colony), with some men to row, have a batteau, and proceed up the lake, and go 
on board the vessels. We obtained liberty, and Colonel Sullivan consented to go 
with us. We got on board the vessels about eleven o'clock in the morning, and 
he confined three of us on board each vessel ; men set over us with fixed bayonets, 
and so kept us till some time in the evening, when we were dismissed and snlfered 
to return. We reasoned with the people on board the vessels all the while we 
were there, and convinced some of them of their errour, who declared they had 
been deceived by Colonel Arnold. After we returned to the fort, called up Colonel 
Hinman, who ordered Lieutenant Halsey, with twenty-fivc^uen, to return again to 
the vessels, and get what people he could on board to join him, and bring one or 
both vessels to the fort, which was all settled the next day. Colonel Sullivan was 
much insulted while we were on board the vessels, chiefly by Mr. Broicn, one of Col. 
Arnold's captains. Captain Stevens, who is waiting tvhile I write these lines, will 
not wait longer, or you should hear more particulars. I expect you will hare a 
full account from the gentlemen committee, after they have laid it before their 
Congress. Captain Elijah Bahcock can give a full account of these matters ; he 
tells me he shall be at Hartford in a few days. Shall give further accounts from 
New York. I am, Sir, at command, your Honor's most obedient and humble 

Servant, 

EDWARD MOTT. 

To the Hon. Jonathan Trumbull, Esq., Governor." 



NUMBER XXVI. Fage 83. 
The following is Mr. Irving's account of the capture of Ticonderoga, from 
his "Life of Washington," Vol. I., p. 402-5. It is inserted here as well to justify 



125 

the statements of the teXt, as to show the judgment of an impartial and unpre- 
judiced historian upon the general facts relating to the expedition. Although 
incorrect in some of its minor details, such as the date of the capture of Crown 
Point, and Arnold's enlistment of men in Western Massachusetts, wherein Mr. 
Irving has followed Mr. Sparks, the relation generally is as correct as it is vivid 
and exciting : 

"As afiliirs were now drawing to a crisis, and war was considered inevitable,, 
some bold spirits in Connecticut conceived a project for the outset. This was the 
surprisal of the old Forts of Ticonderogaand Crown Point, already fomous in the 
French war. Their situation on Lake Champlain gave them the command of the 
main route to Canada ; so that the possession of them would be all-important in 
case of hostilities. They were feebly garrisoned and negligently guarded, and 
abundantly furnished with artillery and military stores, so much needed by the" 
patriot army. 

" The scheme was set on foot in the purlieus, as it were, of the Provincial 
Legislature of Connecticut, then in session. It was not openly sanctioned by that 
body, but secretly favored, and money lent from the treasury to those engaged in 
it. A committee was appointed, also, to accompany them to the frontier, aid them 
in raising troops, and exercise over them a degree of superintendance and controL 

" Sixteen men were thus enlisted in Connecticut, a greater number in Massa- 
thusetts, but the greatest accession- of force was from what was called the "New 
Hampshire Grants." This was a region having the Connecticut River on one side, 
dnd Lake Champlain and the Hudson River on the other, — being, in fact, the 
country forming the present State of Vermont. It had long been a disputed ter- 
ritory, claimed by New York and New Hampshire. George II. liad decided in 
favor of New York, but the Governor of New Hampshire had made grants of be- 
tween one and two hundred townships in it, whence it had acquired the name of 
the New Hampshire Grants. The settlers on these Grants resisted the attempts of 
New York to eject them, and formed themselves into an association called " The 
Green Mountain Boys." Resolute, strong-handed fellows they were, with Ethan 
Allen at their head, a native of Connecticut, but brought up among the Green 
Mountains. He and his Lieutenants, Seth Warner and Remember Baker, were 
outlawed by the Legislature of New York, and rewards offered for their appre- 
hension. They and their associates armed themselves, set New York at defiance, 
imd swore they would be the death of any one who should attempt their arrest. 

"Thus Ethan Allen was becoming a kind of Robin Hood among the moun- 
tains, when the present crisis changed the relative positit)n of things, as if by 
magic. Boundary feuds were forgotten amid the great questions of Colonial rights. 
Ethan Allen at once stepped forward, a patriot, and volunteered, with his Green 
Mountain Boys, to serve in the popular cause. He was well fitted for the enter- 
prise in question, by his experience as a frontier champion, his robustness of mind 
and body, and his fearless spirit. He had a rough eloquence, also, that was very 
effective with his followers. 'His style, ' says one who knew him personally, 'was 
a singular compound of local barbarisms, scriptural phrases and oriental wildness; 
and although unclassic, and sometimes uugrammatical, was highly animated and 



126 

forcible.' Washinpfton, in one of liis letters, says tliere was ' an original some- 
thing in him which commanded admiration 1 ' 

" Thus reinforced, the party, now two hundred and seventy strong, pushed 
forward to Castleton, a place within a few miles of the head of Lake Champlain. 
Here a council of war was held on the 2d (8th?) of May. Ethan Allen was placed 
at the head of the expedition, and James Easton and Seth Warner as second and 
third in command. Detachments were sent off to Slicnesborough, (now White- 
hall,) and another place on the lake, with orders to seize all the boats they could 
find, and bring them to Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga, whither Allen prepared 
to proceed with the main body. 

"At this juncture, another adventurous spirit arrived at Castleton. This was 
Benedict Arnold, since so sadly renouncd. He, too, had conceived the project of 
surprising Ticonderoga and CroAvn Point; or, perhaps, had catujht the idea from 
its first agitators in Connecticut, in the militia of which Province he held a captain's 
commission. He had proposed the scheme to the Massachusetts Committee of 
Safety. It had met with their approbation. They had given him a Colonel's com- 
mission ; authorized him to raise a force in Western Massachusetts, not exceeding 
lour hundred men, and furnished him with money and means. Arnold had en- 
listed but a few officers and men, when he heard of the expedition from Connecti- 
cut being ou the march. He instantly hurried on, with one attendant, to over- 
take it, leaving his few recruits to follow as best they could. In this way he 
reached Castleton, just after the council of war. 

" Producing the Colonel's commission received from the Massachusetts Com- 
mittee of Safety, he now aspired to the supreme command. His claims were dis- 
regarded by the Green Mountain Boys ; they would follow no leader but Ethan 
Allen. As they formed the majority of the party, Arnold was fain to acquiesce, 
and serve as a volunteer, with the rank, but not the command, of Colonel. 

"The party arrived at Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga, ou the night of the 
9th of May. The detachment sent in quest of boats, had failed to arrive. There 
were a few boats at hand, with which the transportation was commenced. It was 
slow work ; the night wore away ; day was about to break, and but eighty-three 
men, with Allen and Arnold, had crossed. Should they wait for the residue, day 
would dawn, the garrison wake, and their enterprise might fiiil. Allen drew up 
his men, addressed them in his own emphatic style, and annouuced his intention 
to make a dash at the fort, without waiting for more force. 'It is a desperate 
attempt,' said he ; ' and I ask no man to go against his will. I will take the lead, 
and be the first to advance. You that are willing to follow, poise your firelocks.' 
Not a firelock but was poised. 

"They mounted the hill briskly, but in silence, guided by a boy from the 
neighborhood. The day dawned as Allen arrived at a sally-port. A sentry pulled 
trigger on him, but his piece missed fire. He retreated through a covered way. 
Allen and his men followed. Another sentry thrust at Easton with his bayonet, 
but was struck down by Allen, and begged for quarter. It was granted on con- 
dition of his leading the way, instantly to the quarters of the Commandant, Capt. 
Delaplaco, who was yet in bed. Bciug arrived there, Allen thundered at the door. 



127 

and demanded a surrender of the fort. By this time his followers had formed into 
two lines on the parade ground, and given three hearty cheers. The Commandant 
appeared at his door, half dressed, " the frightened face of his pretty wife peering 
over his shoulder.' He gazed at Allen in bewildered astonishment. ' By whose 
authority do you act ? ' exclaimed he. 'In the name of the Great Jehovah, and 
the Coutiaental Congress!' replied Allen, with a flourish of his sword, and an 
oath, which we do not care to subjoin. 

"There was no disputing the point. The garrison, like the commander, had 
been startled from sleep, and made prisoners as they rushed forth in their con- 
fusion. A surrender accordingly took place. The captain, and forty-eight men, 
which composed the garrison, were sent prisoners to Hartford, in Connecticut. 
A great supply of military and naval stores, so important in the present crisis, 
was found in the fortress. 

" Colonel Seth Warner, who had brought over the residue of the party from 
Shoreham, was now sent with a detachment against Crown Point, which surren- 
dered on the 12th of May, without firing a gun. Here were taken upward of a 
hundred cannon. 

"Arnold now insisted vehemently on his right to command Ticonderoga; 
being, as he said, the only officer invested with legal authority. His claims had 
again to yield to the superior popularity of Ethan Allen, to whom the Connecticut 
Committee, which had accompanied the enterprise, gave an instrument in writing, 
investing him with the command of the fortress and its dependencies, until he 
should receive the orders of the Connecticut Assembly or the Continental Con- 
gress. Arnold, while forced to acquiesce, sent a protest, and a statement of his 
grievances to the Massachusetts Legislature. * # * * # 

" Thus a partisan band, unpractised in the art of war, had, by a series of 
daring exploits, and almost without the loss of a man, won for the p.atriots the 
command of Lakes George and Champlaln, and thrown open the great highway 
to Canada. 



